“You meet him, and you know within five minutes he’s not going to be one of these ideologues who tries to pull the cord in one direction or another, but rather he’ll just follow the law”, Schumer said.
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“In the Senate, I think it’s our obligation to cast a vote when a nominee is presented or nominated”, Casey said, declining to offer many specifics about what he and Garland discussed on Tuesday.
“Mr. Garland seems to be well-qualified and would probably make a good judge – in some other court”, Grassley said. Either way, our view is this: “Give the people a voice in the filling of this vacancy”.
The Columbus Dispatch: Senate Republicans, such as Ohio’s Rob Portman, have advanced the argument that the voters of the United States should decide who should be nominated to the Supreme Court through their vote for president in November.
Obama last week named Garland, a Democrat who is a federal appeals court judge, as his choice to fill the seat left vacant by Antonin Scalia’s death. His appointment could tip the court leftward for the first time in decades.
Man, if it weren’t obvious enough that the Republicans cower to the National Rifle Association, McConnell made it abundantly clear when listing another reason why the Republicans can’t approve Garland. McConnell is essentially admitting that his party has handed over its Supreme Court vetting process to extremist special interest groups. In his statement, he said, “In a few short months, we will have a new president and new senators who can consider the next justice with the full faith of the people”.
According to the poll 52 percent of Americans favor Senate confirmation of Garland, while 29 percent of them oppose his confirmation.
Bee also couldn’t understand why the Republican senators kept referring to President Obama as a lame duck, because he only has a year in office.
McConnell predicted the plan would be overturned by the courts, but told the governors that even if it ultimately is upheld, “the clock would start over and your states would have ample time to formulate and submit a plan”.
Among the most important ways that our nation’s founders sought to restrain executive power was to entrust the Senate with the advice-and-consent power for presidential nominations – including nominations to the Supreme Court.
“If Merrick Garland can’t get bipartisan support no one can”, he added. Harry Reid when he was back in 2005 said the president nominates, but the Senate doesn’t have to vote. The White House announcement includes a section on “The Senate’s Constitutional Responsibility to Act”. “It will provoke an endless cycle of more tit for tat and make it increasingly impossible for any president, Democrat or Republican, to carry out their constitutional function”.
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Speaking to reporters after a round table on opioid and heroin addiction at the Volunteers of America in Louisville, McConnell held firm on his position that history dictates that the Senate not confirm anyone to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court that occurs in a presidential year.
