President Obama said Sunday that Senate Republicans’ refusal to consider his Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland could set a precedent for Democrats to refuse to consider a Republican court nominee for four years.
Democrats could say “Let’s wait for four years this time,” in response to the GOP claim that Obama should not be able to win confirmation of a nominee in his last year in office, Obama said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Obama said he would not object if Republicans allow a vote in which they reject Garland, who is the top judge on the powerful federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. But the president said that he believes that Republicans would be unable to find a reason to do so if they stop blocking Garland.
“If they go through the process, they won’t have a rationale to defeat him,” Obama said.
“As more senators meet with him, I think they will recognize the quality of this individual,” Obama said.
Obama waved off complaints that he participated while a senator in a filibuster against confirming Justice Samuel Alito in 2006. Obama said that while he was part of a “tit for tat” that occurs in the Senate over the nomination process, Democrats did not refuse to consider Alito at all.
“Never has a Republican president’s nominee not received a hearing, not received a vote,” Obama said.
“What we can’t have,” is Republicans saying that “‘Because it’s a Democratic president, we are not going to do our job, have hearings, and have a vote,'” Obama said.
Obama said he’s confident that despite GOP pressure that caused two senators to back down from support for a Garland hearing, he believes pressure to consider the nominee will mount.
“Things will evolve as people get familiar with Judge Garland’s record. As it becomes apparent that the overwhelming majority of the American people” think the “Senate should now do its constitutional duty,” Obama said.
“Our goal is just to make sure that the Senate does its job and treats him fairly,” Obama said.
