The Associated Press has reported that Obama had narrowed the list to three appeals court judges: Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the appeals courts in Washington, D.C.; Sri Srinivasan, a judge on that court; and Paul Watford of the appeals courts based in San Francisco.
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And that was exactly the case, as some Republicans who were adamant about President Obama not picking someone deciding they will hear what Garland has to say. That court has influence over federal policy and national security matters, which makes it a testing ground for serving on the high Court.
The vacancy emerged when Justice Antonin Scalia, a hardline conservative who unwaveringly opposed LGBT rights decisions, passed away earlier this year.
“He was appointed by a Democratic President, but confirmed by a Republican Majority Senate, and so that suggests maybe he’s middle of the road”, said John Frank.
Whe he accepted the president’s nomination, Garland was visibly emotional.
“The Supreme Court has become a different kind of court as you know basically the Supreme Court has become politicized and this is too important and too much is at stake to let President Obama change the political makeup of the court”, Cornyn explained.
At a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden, Obama said that Judge Garland is “widely recognized not only as one of America’s sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence”. The so-called “Biden Rule” is a reference to Biden’s comments in 1992 urging the president not to nominate a Supreme Court justice in an election year.
Obama said he hoped the Senate would do its job and “move quickly to consider my nominee”. Hearings for someone the Senate is bound to reject?
Senate Republicans have vowed not to hold confirmation hearings or a vote on any nominee picked by the Democratic president for the lifetime position on the court.
The president says he reached out to every member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to seek advice about the nomination.
But within moments of the announcement, Senate Republicans were quick to point out that this time around, Garland’s nominee process is going nowhere.
King went on to criticize his colleagues in the Senate for “keeping their doors shut” to Garland, who he called a “very respected judge”.
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“At a time when our politics are so polarized, this is precisely the time when we should play it straight”, said Pres. Barack Obama.
