Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders announced Thursday that he would indeed ask President Obama to withdraw the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court if he is elected president in November.
Sanders told co-moderator Errol Louis that while he’d back Garland if he comes to a vote in the senate over the next seven months, he would ask Obama to pull back his nomination to make sure a nominee is “crystal clear” on their opposition to the Citizens United decision, which allowed for unlimited spending from outside groups and corporations.
“Obviously, I will strongly support that nomination as a member of the senate,” Sanders said. “But — if elected president, I would ask the president to withdraw that nomination because I think … that we need a Supreme Court justice that will make it crystal clear — and this nominee has not done that — crystal clear that he or she will vote to overturn Citizens United and make sure American democracy is not undermined.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed Sanders in opposition to the 2010 Supreme Court decision. However, she declined to say whether she would ask Obama to pull back the Garland nomination if elected president, saying she doesn’t want to engage in hypotheticals.
“I am not going to contradict the president’s strategy on this and I’m not going to engage in hypotheticals. I fully support the president,” Clinton said, adding that the GOP-led Senate should take up the nomination.
Earlier in the week, Obama told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he would not withdraw Garland as his nominee no matter what happens in November.
