On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) official campaign Twitter account gloated over news that the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority upheld President Trump’s Muslim ban in a 5-4 decision by posting a photo of McConnell shaking hands with Justice Neil Gorsuch.
— Team Mitch (@Team_Mitch) June 26, 2018
McConnell, of course, did more than anybody else to make sure Gorsuch got on the court. Following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, McConnell refused to hold confirmation hearings for then-President Obama’s choice to replace him, Merrick Garland.
McConnell’s tweet suggests that scoring a political win is more important to him than principle. In January 2017, he criticized President Trump’s decision to implement an executive order banning people from a number of Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
“I think we need to be careful; we don’t have religious tests in this country,” McConnell said at the time.
During the campaign, Trump infamously called “for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”
REMINDER: Trump made very, very clear that he wanted to ban Muslims from the United States pic.twitter.com/vmok0HcZCf
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 26, 2018
Just days after his inauguration, Trump translated that pledge into policy with his January 2017 executive order.
Writing for the conservative majority that included Gorsuch, Chief Justice John Roberts downplayed Trump’s repeated calls for a Muslim ban and said, “we must consider not only the statements of a particular President, but also the authority of the Presidency itself.”
Trump also gloated over “TRAVEL BAN” decision on Twitter.
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018
Trump’s tweet contradicted what then-Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters in January 2016 when he insisted Trump’s executive order is “not a travel ban.”