PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE EDITORIAL: President Barack Obama did his duty under the Constitution by submitting to the Senate his nominee — Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit — to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court…
The choice of Judge Garland, 63, has put Senate Republicans on the spot. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared (as recently as Wednesday) that the Senate will not meet with an Obama nominee, much less allow the Senate to vote on the appointment. GOP senators want to leave the seat unfilled until after the November election, in the hopes that a Republican will be elected president and nominate a conservative.
Yet Republicans have praised Judge Garland’s ability over the years. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the longest-serving Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said in 2010 that Judge Garland could be a “consensus nominee” for the high court who would be confirmed; last week the senator called him “a fine man.” Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, plus former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, also have applauded Merrick Garland’s work. When the judge stood for Senate confirmation in 1997, he was approved by a 3-1 margin… (more)
NEWSLANC EDITOR: This is one of the statewide editorials with the same message
