Hillary Clinton scolded Senate Republicans during Wednesday night’s presidential debate for not holding a vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. However, the Democratic candidate did not commit to renominating Garland should she get elected and a vacancy remains on the bench. Instead, she left open the question of who she would nominate if given the chance.
“The kind of people that I would be looking to nominate to the court would be in the great tradition of standing up to the powerful, standing on behalf of our rights as Americans. And I look forward to having the opportunity,” Clinton said.
“I would hope that the Senate would do its job and confirm the nominee that President Obama has sent to them. That’s the way the Constitution fundamentally should operate. The president nominates, and then the Senate advises and consents or not.”
Clinton did not go any further, however, not indicating that she would make Garland her first nominee. She has been cool toward Obama’s choice throughout the campaign. At an April presidential primary debate, she was asked if she would resubmit Garland’s nomination. “When I am president, I will take stock of where we are and move from there,” she said.
Her refusal to unequivocally back Garland adds an unusual twist to the standoff between Obama and Congress over Garland’s nomination, which has been stalled since Obama picked him in April.
Republicans have argued that the pick should belong to the next president, but they now face the possibility that Clinton will replace him with somebody even more liberal. Ironically, Clinton’s non-support may be the Obama administration’s last, best hope to get Garland confirmed.
Some Republicans, such as Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., have suggested that Garland may be their best option. “If we come to a point, I have said all along, where we’re going to lose the election or we lose the election in November, then we ought to approve him quickly. I’m certain that he’ll be more conservative than a Hillary Clinton nomination, come January,” Flake told NBC in May.
The administration is hoping that thinking becomes more widespread among the GOP. Some liberal groups, however, are hoping the Garland pick remains stalled.
“If the Democrats re-take the Senate, Hillary Clinton will get a lot of pressure to nominate someone even more progressive than Garland,” Lena Zwarenstein, director of strategic engagement for the liberal American Constitution Society, told the Washington Examiner. “Garland was not on the top of everyone’s list.”
