In his speech this morning, President Obama asked Senate Republicans to “play it straight” and “fair” even in a time “when our politics are so polarized”.
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President Obama’s nomination to the Supreme Court of eminently qualified federal appellate Judge Merrick Garland is sound for the sake of the court.
“Voting on a Supreme Court nominee is not a choice, it is a constitutional responsibility that we take when we take the oath of office to be senators”.
Heitkamp said that when North Dakotans go to work each day, “they are expected to do their jobs to the best of their abilities so they can make a living and feed their families”.
Polls conducted after Scalia’s death but before Garland’s nomination showed that a majority of Americans believed the Senate should hold hearings.
Judge Garland led the investigation and prosecution that followed the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, which ultimately led to the conviction of Timothy McVeigh.
As a federal judge, Garland has already been confirmed once by the Senate. He accused the president of politicizing the issue, when the opposite is true, and of denying the American people an opportunity to make their voices heard.
President Obama said he hopes they will accept Garland’s nomination after the break.
Obama formally unveiled his pick in the White House Rose Garden.
“The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country”, McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor. Republican Sen. John Hoeven in a statement said Democrats have called for similar tactics in recent history and that the voters should decide in November.
He would replace conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia, who died unexpectedly last month, leaving behind a bitter election-year fight over the future of the court. “And that Constitution, the last time I looked, said the president had a four-year term, not a three-year term….”
President Obama is calling his Supreme Court nominee one of the sharpest legal minds in the nation.
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The senator said he proudly stands with his Republican colleagues in the belief that the chamber should not vote on any nominee until the next president takes office. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said after the announcement that the chamber would not consider Garland’s nomination.
