“Earlier today, I notified the White House that I do not wish to be considered at this time for possible nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States”, Sandoval said in a statement, adding he’s told key Senate leaders the same.
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With the battle over a Supreme Court nominee looming, the poll finds Obama has gotten a small boost in his approval rating over the last month, with 50% now saying they approve of his performance and 46% disapproving.
A few Supreme Justices are refusing to look at the nominees President Obama is nominating for a new supreme court judge after the recent death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. This is precisely the argument the Republicans are making now for lame-duck Obama to leave filling the Scalia vacancy to the next president to make. An even larger percentage – 66 percent – say Grassley’s committee should at least hold a hearing for the nominee. “Mitch McConnell didn’t do his members any favor at all by putting them in this position”.
Democratic Senators criticized Grassley on Thursday for postphoning a Judiciary Committee meeting where they planned to ask Grassley questions about the Supreme Court vacancy.
Second, the liberal groups are portraying Republican senators who won’t allow a confirmation hearing as “extreme and irresponsible”. Some candidates have been confirmed since then without hearings, and some nominees have withdrawn from consideration, but none who wanted a hearing has been denied one.
Maybe they are afraid that the three or four Judiciary Republicans whom Senator Grassley has said “had some reluctance” (3:40 in this video) before taking this extreme position would realize that they were right all along.
So there’s some remarkable consistency in Senate Republicans, as far as this president is concerned.
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The New York Times reports that Grassley, a six-term Iowa Republican running for a seventh term this year, will now face a potential spoiler in The Hawkeye State with a challenge from Patty Judge, a well-liked Democrat who served as lieutenant governor and state agriculture secretary. Pollsters found that 69 percent of respondents – including 49 percent of Republicans – want the Senate to hold an up-or-down vote on a nominee.
