Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid praised the media Thursday for helping to deliver the party’s demand that Republicans should take up President Obama’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
“I think a lot of the stories have been commendable,” Reid said after meeting privately with Merrick Garland, Obama’s pick for the high court. “I’m going home and making sure you have a lot more to talk about.”
Garland met with Reid in his Senate office after talking privately with Sen. Patrick Leahy, of Vermont, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where nominations are considered.
Reid said he told Garland “to be himself, to be calm and collected,” when he meets with senators. “I think that’s his nature anyway. He is a very smart man,” Reid said.
Garland, who is chief judge of the D.C. appeals court, is going to meet with a handful of GOP senators when they return from the Easter recess in April.
But from there, his nomination is expected to stall. Republican leaders said they will not consider Garland, or anyone else for the high court, until a new president takes office in January.
Reid said Democrats aren’t giving up and will hammer the Republicans repeatedly until they change their minds and hold a hearing and a vote on Garland, who won bipartisan approval to the federal bench nearly two decades ago.
“You are going to be surprised at how hard we will work to make sure this is on the front pages of all the papers and the top stories on all the electronic media,” Reid said.
Reid said he is “confident” Garland will be confirmed because Republicans will succumb to public pressure.
Reid also criticized the idea of taking up Garland’s nomination in a post-election lame duck session. Republican leaders won’t discuss it, but some GOP lawmakers won’t rule out taking up the nomination if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, since Clinton might pick a more liberal nominee.
“This is a weak excuse not to do it now,” Reid said, dismissing the possible plan.
Reid described Garland as “tough” but unfamiliar with the political process that comes along with a Supreme Court nomination.
Reid said he warned Garland of “brickbats and different fruit” that critics may aim at him.
“This is something that is new to him,” Reid said. “He’s a tough man and he’s willing to take what they have to throw at him.”
