New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte will meet with President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee next week “out of courtesy and respect,” her office announced Wednesday.
Ayotte’s decision to sit down with U.S. Circuit Court Judge Merrick Garland, who Obama chose in mid-March to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the bench, comes as she and her Republican colleagues in the Senate face mounting pressure by the White House and their Democratic counterparts to hold confirmation hearings in the Upper Chamber.
“This is a lifetime appointment that will have a significant impact on our country for decades to come,” Ayotte said Monday.
She continued, “I will meet with the president’s nominee out of courtesy and respect, and I also plan to explain my view that the people should have a voice in this important nomination through their votes in November.”
Ayotte is one of two dozen Republican senators up for re-election in 2016. She’s being challenged by New Hampshire’s Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, who’s running neck-and-neck in recent polls and boasts an approval rating above 50 percent in the Granite State.
Garland has already met with Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and has 11 other meetings scheduled in Washington this week, including with Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Maine, and John Bozeman, Ark.
He and Ayotte will meet next Wednesday, April 13 with further details set to be released in the coming days.
