WASHINGTON (CNN) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said his much-anticipated meeting with Merrick Garland on Tuesday was “friendly”, but also indicated there will be no action on Obama’s pick to replace the seat of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
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DES MOINES | Although it may not be a realistic hope, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller hopes Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland gets an up-or-down vote in the U.S. Senate.
The Associated Press reported that afterward Grassley evaded reporters waiting for him outside the Senate Dining Room in the Capitol, where the two met. Garland did not comment, the AP said.
Those who oppose President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee have been digging for dirt to justify opposition by 52 of the 54 Senate Republicans to granting him a hearing.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who met with Garland in her Capitol office later Tuesday morning, “continues to respect the Judiciary Committee’s decision not to hold hearings”, an aide said. Even before Scalia’s death, GOP leaders in the Senate were delaying confirmation votes on numerous President’s lower court nominees.
A leading business group, the National Federation of Independent Business, released a comprehensive scorecard of Judge Garland’s rulings Tuesday showing that he has ruled against business interests 90 percent of the time. Home care workers had been excluded from these protections as so called “companion” workers, but after a series of decisions and counter-decisions, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in August upheld the Department of Labor’s move to extend the protections.
While every sit-down with Garland has been a closed-door meeting, many senators have spoken with reporters before or after the meeting.
Meanwhile, both sides are ratcheting up political pressure on the GOP leadership and vulnerable Republican senators. Mark Kirk of IL and Susan Collins of ME, support hearings.
“If we want to stand as the United States, we should stand together instead of being divided over one person”, Wherry said. The American people deserve a substantive debate after the election, removed from the current election circus, to decide the direction of our Supreme Court.
Another ex-president – Dennis W. Archer, the former Detroit mayor – said he expected everyday Americans to take a more active role in the protesting the blockade, to the point that they might influence the coming election: “I think it’s going to be much more, if it gets stretched out, that will take place”.
The president has acknowledged that party lines have hardened over the past eight years. Obama said he fears that a prolonged debate over the next Supreme Court justice might hamper people’s faith in a nonpartisan judicial system.
Which brings us back to Senator Grassley’s breakfast with Judge Garland, as well as Garland’s meetings with other Republican Senators this week.
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Nevertheless, it took Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell nine months to schedule a floor vote after Waverly unanimously cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee.
