Senator Gardner Reacts To Supreme Court Nominee
DENVER (CBS4)- Senator Cory Gardner believes the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court should remain unfilled until after the election year.
Gardner, a Republican representing Colorado, released this statement on Wednesday morning shortly after President Barack Obama announced his nomination to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court: "We stand at a pivotal point in our nation's history. The Obama Administration continues to use the judicial and regulatory systems to push through its legislative agenda, shifting the balance of power that our Founders established. That is why the next president of the United States should have the opportunity to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. In 1992, even then-Senator Joe Biden stated the Senate should not hold confirmation hearings for a Supreme Court nominee until after that year's presidential election. Our next election is too soon and the stakes are too high; the American people deserve a role in this process as the next Supreme Court Justice will influence the direction of this country for years to come."
The president nominated Marrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to fulfill the vacancy of the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning.
Obama says allowing the Supreme Court confirmation process to become an extension of the presidential race would be wrong. He says that would betray America's best traditions. He is urging Senate Republicans to grant hearings and a confirmation vote to Merrick Garland, Obama's nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. He says if they don't, it would be an abdication for the Senate's constitutional duty and would show the nominating process is "beyond repair."
Obama says the Supreme Court is supposed to be above politics.
The president says Garland will travel to Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet one-on-one with senators.
