While voters in three major swing states are split over whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will make the better president, the same states side with Democrats in support of President Obama’s nominee to fill the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court and rebuke Senate Republicans refusal to hold a confirmation hearing.
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Although Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley has said he won’t consider Garland’s nomination, the White House had him fill out the questionnaire anyway. Even though Garland’s answers note he once gave a toast for Chief Justice John Roberts, his submission of the questionnaire does not seemed to have softened GOP opposition to his nomination.
But in Garland’s atypical nomination, the questionnaire has become another tool in the White House pressure campaign.
Garland, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has met with a slew of other Republican senators in recent weeks. Garland will submit a questionnaire detailing his credentials and experience to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, May 10, taking another step in the White House’s push to break the Senate blockade on his nomination.
“The American people should have a voice, not this lame duck president out the door”, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell previously said. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, the White House said.
“I agree with Leader Reid he’d be a great member of the Supreme Court, but I’m not going to prejudge what happens in January”, Schumer said. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats used the questionnaire to further their months-long offensive on Republicans for their recalcitrance. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., admitted Tuesday he would like more information from Trump on who his choice would be to replace Scalia, a conservative legal icon, on the bench of the nation’s highest court. Never mind qualifications. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, get the time of day.
The Constitution describes the Senate’s role as providing “advice and consent” on Supreme Court nominees, but does not specify what this means.
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The no-way-in-hellions held firm after President Obama nominated a superbly capable jurist, Judge Merrick Garland.
