Breaking from his fellow Republicans, Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk on Monday urged his colleagues to approve the next nominee for Supreme Court justice.
“I recognize the right of the president, be it Republican or Democrat, to place before the Senate a nominee for the Supreme Court and I fully expect and look forward to President Obama advancing a nominee for the Senate to consider,” Kirk wrote in a Chicago Sun Times op-ed.
Senate Republicans have warned Obama not to pick a replacement for late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia until after the presidential election, saying they will veto his nominee.
Kirk, however, who used his near-death experience when having a stroke in 2012 as a reason for his opinion, added that he knows his “duty as a senator to either vote in support or opposition to that nominee following a fair and thorough hearing along with a complete and transparent release of all requested information.”
“A partisan or extreme nominee would not be prudent nor would it provide a steady, scholarly hand to guide the constitutional ship of state,” Kirk wrote, adding, “My sincerest hope is that President Obama nominates someone who captures the sentiment he spoke about before the Illinois General Assembly this month — a nominee who can bridge differences, a nominee who finds common ground and a nominee who does not speak or act in the extreme.”
Kirk has served as Illinois’ Republican senator since 2010. Prior to that, he was an Illinois congressman for nine years.
