Garland met Thursday with Vermont Sen.
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Leahy told reporters that the court “would be a lot better off” with Garland as a justice.
Republicans argue the next president should pick the successor to Justice Antonin Scalia, who died suddenly last month.
But Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell, having woefully failed in his stated objective of making Obama a one-term president, are trying to invalidate the a year ago of Obama’s second term by creating the longest Supreme Court vacancy in history.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Grassley, along with five other Republican senators, indicated they would consider meeting with Garland.
Once the president has made a nomination, the ball is in the senate’s court to “advise and consent” by holding a confirmation hearing, but some republicans said they will not even do that.
Wednesday, President Obama announced his choice to become the next justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, Federal Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland. “Now, we need to do our job in the Senate”.
“I urge my Senate colleagues to put aside politics, roll up their sleeves, and start governing like the American people deserve”, said Sen.
“It would be intellectually dishonest for me to say that at this point”, Grassley said when asked if he’d be open to considering the nominee in a lame-duck session.
Obama describes his nominee for the Supreme Court as, “exceptionally qualified to serve on the higher Court”.
Many Republicans believe the next justice should be nominated by the President-elect of the 2016 contest, while many Democrats believe it is Obama’s duty to nominate another judge during the remainder of his presidency.
In 2010, Republican Sen. If confirmed, he promised to bring those ideals to the Supreme Court.
“He did nominate someone a little bit more moderate”, Litten said.
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U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-2nd District, suggested in his statement that any nominee of Obama’s – Garland included – would be a “liberal” bound to “reinterpret the Constitution beyond its meaning-denying citizens the right to vote for legislators to develop laws”. “So if somebody’s deciding who to vote for for president, one of the considerations would be who that person would nominate to the court”.
