Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she’s hoping that Senate Republicans act soon on President Obama’s nominee to fill the court’s vacancy.
“I do think that cooler heads will prevail, I hope sooner rather than later,” Ginsburg said at the Georgetown Law Center on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate have renewed their push for a hearing on Merrick Garland. But Republicans still say the next president should make the appointment since the vacancy came in the last year of Obama’s presidency.
“The president is elected for four years, not three years,” Ginsburg said, referring to the president’s authority to make appointments to the court in his final year in office. “Maybe some members of the Senate will wake up and appreciate that that’s how it should be.”
Garland’s nomination has been pending for 175 days without Senate action, the longest delay in high court history.
Following Justice Antonin Scalia’s sudden death in February, there are now four conservatives and four liberals on the bench.
