Hours after Scalia died on February 13 at a West Texas resort, McConnell – who controls what gets called for a vote in the Senate – said the Senate would not act on any Obama nominee and the seat should be empty “until we have a new president”.
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At such a time, we should also care about the legitimacy of the court as an institution, the credibility of this key lifetime appointment and the process through which this key nominee is considered.
What, we wonder, could they fear from hearings? “I think he’s clearly very knowledgeable and can serve ably on the Supreme Court”, the Vermont senator told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow Thursday night. “What if Hillary Clinton becomes president and she picks Garland or someone more liberal?” he said.
“To be fully effective and to insure the highest level of access to justice, the Supreme Court needs a full complement of justices”, added Atty.
“In fact, the American people did decide, back in 2012 when they elected me president of the United States”, he said.
According to her, these senators all have formidable Democratic challengers, and a Supreme Court nomination being up front and center is not something they wanted this year.
“Generally, and this is the way it works out politically, if you’re replacing – if a conservative president’s replacing a conservative justice, there’s a little more accommodation to it”, Johnson said in that radio interview.
In public, GOP leaders say they oppose acting on Garland in a lame duck session. The protest is just one part of a multi-pronged campaign by a coalition of liberal groups to pressure Republicans – especially those up for re-election in swing states – to change their minds and agree to confirmation hearings and a vote on Garland.
CNN comments that GOP leaders, caught in the undertow of an election in which the conservative grass-roots are already in revolt, immediately renewed their refusal to consider Garland, 63, saying their reservations were not personal but motivated by a desire for the American people to weigh in on Scalia’s replacement.
“The idea that the president should not be able to make a nomination is totally absurd, Republican obstructionism”, Sanders said. McConnell said it doesn’t matter who the nominee is, he will not convene a hearing on the Supreme Court vacancy. In the weeks and months ahead, the possibility of this trend being continued, or completely and possibly permanently upended, will be the principal thing being tested in the battle to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat.
Republican senators, even those who have expressed admiration for Garland, have vowed to block any selection by Obama.
Obama announced his choice Wednesday of Garland, the chief judge of the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia.
For now, progressive groups say they are focused on the more immediate task – hammering Republicans for holding up the process.
Many believe President Obama should have ensured a black woman was on the court. “That’s the best way forward for our country now”.
“My goal was to actually confirm a justice who I thought could do an outstanding job”, he said.
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Garland’s record in campaign finance cases in recent years is mixed.
