m***a
发帖数: 13878 | 1 President Barack Obama announced his selection of Judge Merrick Garland as a
nominee to the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning during a Rose Garden
statement.
Obama wasted little time in framing his nominee as "qualified and respected"
— and Republicans as "unprecedented" obstructionists for saying they will
refuse to consider his nomination.
"Our Supreme Court really is unique," he said. "It's supposed to be above
politics. It has to be. And it should stay that way."
"To suggest that someone as qualified and respected as Merrick Garland doesn
't even deserve a hearing, let alone an up-or-down vote to join an
institution as important as our Supreme Court when two-thirds of Americans
believe otherwise," he continued. "That would be unprecedented. To suggest
that someone who has served his country with honor and dignity...might be
treated as one Republican leader stated as a 'political pinata,' that can't
be right."
"It would be a betrayal of our best traditions and a betrayal of the vision
of our founding documents," he said.
Garland will begin meeting with Senate Republicans one-on-one starting
Thursday in hope of the branch of Congress holding a hearing for him, Obama
said. Senate Republican leaders and top presidential candidates have been
clamoring for Obama to refrain from nominating a candidate in what is his
final year in office, promising to not confirm his choice.
"I simply ask Republicans in the Senate to give him a fair hearing and then
an up-or-down vote. If you don't, then it will not only be an abdication of
the Senate's constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for nominating
and confirming judges that is beyond repair," Obama said.
He continued: "It will mean everything is subject to the most partisan of
politics — everything. It will provoke an endless cycle of more tit-for-tat
, and make it increasingly impossible for any president, Democrat or
Republican, to carry out their constitutional function. The reputation of
the Supreme Court will inevitably suffer. Faith in our justice system will
inevitably suffer. Our democracy will ultimately suffer as well."
A teary-eyed Garland, meanwhile, called the Supreme Court tap the "greatest
honor of my life" other than his wife agreeing to marry him.
"There could be no higher public service than serving as a member of the
United States Supreme Court," Garland said.
Obama said that Garland's name has come up as a suggestion for the court on
both sides when he was vetting candidates for his previous two nominations.
"The one name that has come up repeatedly from Democrats and Republicans
alike is Merrick Garland," he said.
He also said that Garland has earned "admiration" from leaders on "both
sides of the aisle."
"I selected a nominee who is widely recognized not only as one of America's
sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency
, modesty, integrity, even-handedness, and excellence," Obama said. "He is
uniquely prepared to serve immediately."
Garland, 63, is the chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the DC
Circuit. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he was appointed by former
President Bill Clinton.
This is not the first time Garland has been considered for a Supreme Court
seat. In 2010, he was in consideration for the seat for which Obama
eventually nominated Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Back then, his name earned more sympathy from Republicans. Republican Sen.
Orrin Hatch of Utah told Reuters in 2010 that Garland was "a consensus
nominee" who would have no problem being confirmed.
"He would be very well supported by all sides" as a Supreme Court nominee,
Hatch said, "and the president knows that."
Democratic leaders have pledged to pressure the GOP-controlled Senate to
hold a hearing.
"I do hope that they will do their constitutional duty and give President
Obama's nominee a meeting, a hearing, and a vote. Mr. Obama is doing his
constitutional duty, and Senate Republicans should do theirs," Senate
Minority Leader Harry Reid said during a speech on the Senate floor
Wednesday. | X*******G
发帖数: 14887 | 2 被共和党国会否掉了，他们决心留给下一任总统提名。 |
|
