President Obama put pressure on Republicans Wednesday to approve his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, by playing up the GOP’s past support for Garland.
Speaking from the Rose Garden, Obama noted that back in 1997, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chastised fellow Republicans who would refuse to confirm Garland after President Clinton nominated him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where Garland is now the chief justice.
“‘In all honesty I would like to see one person come to this floor and say one reason why Merrick Garland does not deserve this position,'” Obama quoted Hatch, who was then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “He actually accused fellow Senate Republicans of…’playing politics’ with judges,” Obama added.
Obama also reminded Republicans that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, once said: “Anytime Judge Garland disagrees, you know you are in a difficult area.”
Garland has enjoyed bipartisan support in the past, a likely factor in Obama’s decision to find a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. So far, Republicans have said they will not budge, and want the next president to nominate a candidate.
Obama said Wednesday morning that he chose Garland because he is “one of America’s sharpest minds.” He also said Garland brings a “spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence,” to the bench.
“These qualities, and his long commitment to public service, have earned him the respect and admiration of leaders from both sides of the aisle,” Obama continued.
Garland, a Harvard Law School graduate who clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Brennan Jr., beat out fellow District of Columbia Appeals Court jurist Sri Srinivasan and Judge Paul Watford of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Srinivasan, who would have been the first Asian-American on the high court, was seen as a favorite to be picked until the last few days.
“He is uniquely prepared to serve immediately,” Obama added of Garland.
Obama’s pick was already attracting Republican criticism and Democratic praise even before Obama announced it Wednesday morning from the Rose Garden.
“Nothing has changed,” the conservative advocacy group Heritage Action stated before Obama spoke. “Senate Republicans deserve credit for using their ‘advice and consent’ authority to ensure the American people’s voices are not ignored as they are in the process of selecting their next president. The next president — Republican or Democrat [sic] — should be in the position to fill the court’s vacancy with the” Senate’s input.
But Obama said that since his first opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice in 2009, Garland’s name has come up “repeatedly” from “Republicans and Democrats alike.”
“I know we’ve entered the political season,” Obama said, laying out the reality of Garland’s uphill battle to confirmation. “I simply ask Republicans in the Senate to give him a fair hearing, and then an up-or-down vote,” Obama said after adding that Garland would begin visiting Republicans on Capitol Hill Thursday.
Obama acknowledged that Republicans can point to times when Democrats have blocked conservative jurists, but he said giving into the urge for political maneuvering “would be a betrayal of our best traditions and it would be a betrayal of our founding documents,” he said. Republicans have noted that Obama himself filibustered Bush’s nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, a fact that has emboldened the GOP to oppose Obama’s pick.
But Obama said that if Republicans continue the “endless cycle of more tit-for-tat” it will be impossible for future presidents to carry out their “constitutional function.”
Obama formally sent Garland’s nomination to the Senate immediately after finishing his remarks.
