The Republican Senators in charge of the Judiciary Committee just made a bold announcement after a closed door meeting today: There will be NO confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nomination under ANY CIRCUMSTANCE!
The meeting took place on the first full session day since Justice Antonin Scalia died on February 13th.
This is a crushing defeat for the Obama White House, as the President is hopeful to leave a legacy on the Supreme Court that could spend the next 20-40 years enacting his radical left-wing agenda:
“We believe the American people need to decide who is going to make this appointment rather than a lame duck president,” said Majority Whip John Cornyn.
When asked if they would start the process after the new president took office or if they would consider doing it in the lame duck session, Cornyn replied “No, after the next president is selected. That way the American people have a voice in the process.”
The Republican members of the Judiciary Committee were unanimous in agreeing not to move forward with any Obama nominee for the Supreme Court, said Cornyn, who was in the meeting. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who was not in the meeting, later said that GOP senators were told at their weekly lunch that the Judiciary Committee Republicans were in unanimous agreement on the strategy.
Sen. Lindsey Graham said that “there’s no use starting a process that’s not going to go anywhere and we are going to let the next president decide,” when asked why there would be no hearings.
Democrats are furious, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid blamed the decision on Donald Trump rallying conservatives against the nomination. And Republicans have enjoyed showing the video of then-Senator Joe Biden opposing a Supreme Court Judicial nomination during the election of President George H.W. Bush.
