Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), on Thursday called out Republican senators who have now said that they would be open to confirming Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court after the November election if a Democrat wins the White House.
“It appears to be getting less and less about principle,” Franken said on MSNBC. “We’ve heard now a number of my Republican colleagues say that they would confirm or take up Judge Garland in a lame duck session if Hillary Clinton wins.”
“It’s gone from — even under their reasoning — from ‘Let the people decide’ … to ‘Let the people decide unless they decide on Hillary Clinton,'” he continued.
Franken mentioned that Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has said he would be open to confirming Garland in the lame duck session, and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has also signaled he would be willing.
MSNBC’s Tamron Hall mentioned to Franken that some Republicans have backed up their decision to block Obama’s nominee by noting that the President filibustered the nomination of Justice Samuel Alito.
“Well, that also is absurd, because those were not in the last year of President Bush’s presidency, so what they’re saying now is that just they will never vote on a Supreme Court nomination if they don’t like the president?” Franken responded.
Franken told Hall that he used to have a career where “part of what I did was identify absurdity, and I’m seeing a lot of it here.”
