Hillary Clinton supported President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court during a speech in Wisconsin Monday, but warned the progressive agenda could be decimated if Donald Trump got to nominate justices.
“This election is about more than just one seat on the court,” Clinton said at the University of Wisconsin. “The next president could end up nominating multiple justices. That means the president elected this fall could determine the future of the court for decades to come.”
The former secretary of state called on Senator Chuck Grassley “to step up and do his job” by holding a hearing for Obama nominee Merrick Garland. She praised Garland as a moderate.
“For a long time now the ideological bend of the court has led the country in the wrong direction,” Clinton said. “If we’re serious about progressive causes we need to focus on who is sitting on the court.”
Senate Republicans have said they will block any attempt by President Obama to fill the seat and give the Supreme Court a liberal majority. GOP lawmakers may not even hold hearings on Garland.
“As scary as it may be ask yourself what kind of nominee President Trump would appoint,” Clinton said.
The Democratic front-runner blamed the Republican Party’s history of obstructionism for Trump’s rise, claiming that the party that questioned the birthplace of the president made “extreme the new normal” and then “opened the door to even worse.”
“Let’s be clear about what’s really going on here. Their current fight against Judge Garland is just the current fight in a long string of actions in dividing our government,” Clinton said, while calling on Wisconsinites to vote keeping the court in mind.
