Her office issued a statement that also seemed to close the door on confirming Garland. Grassley evaded reporters afterward, and his office said it would release a statement on the meeting. He says the Senate should live up to its responsibility and hold a hearing.
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As the gatekeeper to further Senate action on Garland’s nomination, Grassley has acted in lockstep with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has vowed to leave the vacancy created by Justice Antonin Scalia’s February death to be filled by the next president.
Garland is expected to meet this week on Capitol Hill with more than a dozen Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the Senate hoping to persuade them to move forward with his nomination, with Grassley among the most influential.
The fiction spread by congressional liberals and their allied special interest groups that the Court can not do its work has already been debunked by both liberal Justice Stephen Breyer and conservative Justice Samuel Alito, who’ve said the court’s work won’t be hindered or impeded by Scalia’s absence.
Democrats applauded those Republicans willing to meet with Garland but said public hearings are essential.
014-a-15-(Josh Earnest, White House press secretary, at news conference)-“a fair hearing”-White House press secretary Josh Earnest says it’s clear Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is feeling the heat for blocking Garland’s nomination”.
Following a breakfast meeting with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Grassley insists “nothing has changed” about his decision to block Garland from getting a confirmation hearing – even though Grassley is under heavy pressure back home, and in Washington, to change his mind.
If Garland’s nomination is confirmed, the conservative-liberal balance in the country’s top court would be changed for the first time in the past 25 years. Uhl says he’s a Republican though reports say he donated money to President Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012. “I won’t go into any more detail because I want everyone to understand that we had a very friendly discussion”.
Now that President Obama has nominated Judge Garland to serve on the Supreme Court, the U.S. Senate should give Judge Garland an up or down vote.
For weeks, Democrats have been criticizing Grassley nearly daily on the Senate floor.
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Democrats have made him one of their top targets as they try to persuade Republicans to relent on allowing a confirmation vote on Garland, arguing that it is their job to consider the President’s choice. Section 28 Title 1 of the U.S. Code suggests that there should be nine: “The Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of a Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of whom shall constitute a quorum”.
