The White House is expressing optimism in the week after President Obama announced Chief Judge Merrick Garland as his Supreme Court nominee, despite senators holding to their vow not to consider the pick.
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Mr. McConnell said the nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, would move the high court “dramatically to the left” for a quarter century, so he doesn’t think a Republican majority in the Senate would confirm him, even if Democratic nomination front-runner Hillary Clinton wins the presidency.
“I think all of the candidates for president ought to be discouraging that kind of activity”, McConnell said.
Reid’s claim that the Democrats “have never held up a Supreme Court nomination” gave Todd and us pause, so we made a decision to put it on the Truth-O-Meter.
Conservative columnist George Will is taking a view contrarian to most on his side of the political aisle and scolding the GOP-run Senate for its “incoherent response” to President Obama’s Supreme Court nomination. “We will stand by him from now until he is confirmed and he’s sitting on the Supreme Court”, McDonough said on Fox News.
“Even though Barack Obama calls him a moderate he’s opposed by the NRA”, he said, adding the National Federation of Independent Business also opposes Garland and the New York Times has said he would make the court more liberal. “But the American people need to weigh in, and they’ll do that in November”.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) went further, blasting the GOP’s obstructive tactics, but predicted Republicans would ultimately relent.
“They’re going to wind up, as a result of this, losing Senate seats they shouldn’t have lost”.
Tillis said Republicans are already moving on, addressing drug addiction and the needs of the military and veterans, and that the next move is up to Obama and congressional Democrats.
Garland is widely considered to be a center-left jurist or a moderate, but the Supreme Court needs a justice who is more liberal to balance the court.
” ” And their excuses are lame”, Reid told Chuck Todd.
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Kasich said Senate Republicans should consider meeting with Garland and said he’d “think about” taking a look at Garland if he were elected president. This not-so-thinly-veiled threat is a poor choice, because it shows that McConnell and other Republicans in the Senate are willing to greatly increase partisanship to get their way. They’ll have a great election in November, and come January, they’ll have a Republican White House, a Republican Congress and the ability to nominate someone just as conservative as the late Justice Antonin Scalia, keeping the court’s ideological sway in their favor. With the Republican leadership refusing to do their constitutional duty, this time-frame will now last well past 11 months.
