But the refusal by Senate Republicans to even consider Garland this year is proving to be an attractive pad from which Democratic super PACs and candidates are launching attacks.
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Senate Republicans say that they will not hold hearings or otherwise consider President Obama’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Merrick Garland.
Could the outcome of the presidential nomination process – say, if the general election race turned out to be between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump – be the turning point? Robert Casey, D-Pa., hold a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 14, 2016, calling on the Republican leadership to allow a confirmation hearing for Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamas choice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court6.
So, what happens if someone else leaves the court before the end of Obama’s term?
“It gets me irritated, the bickering and all that kind of stuff”, Julie Christopher, 49, a Republican and flight attendant from Fort Worth, Texas, said in a follow-up interview, describing her modest attention to the issue.
“This is nothing more than a political stunt by the Republican majority to drive their base to the polls in November”.
Democrats have criticized Portman, who is up for re-election this year, for siding with Republicans, such as Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader from Kentucky, who don’t want Obama to alter the court’s balance. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill, was the first. Joe Biden against Democrats.
“Our position from the beginning has been very clear: President Obama is not a king”, said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the conservative American Center for Law and Justice, which submitted a brief
urging the court to uphold the lower ruling. No vote was taken.
By refusing to uphold the last 60 years of standard practice in at least holding a hearing, McGarvey said the GOP is setting a risky new precedent. Carrie Severino, chief counsel of the Judicial Crisis Network, praised Grassley for opposing Obama’s effort to confirm “another liberal judge who will ensure the left dominates the Supreme Court for a generation or more”. Starr served on the same court in the 1980s, having been nominated by President Ronald Reagan.
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He noted Murray’s Democratic colleague, Sen. He also said there are many examples of nominees going without a hearing or subsequent confirmation. Yes, between 1789 and 1866, Congress willy-nilly shifted the court membership from six to five, to six, to seven, to nine, to 10 to seven justices.
