Two Republican senators are scheduled to meet with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland next week in a hopeful sign for the Obama administration.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) both announced that they will hold meetings with Garland next Tuesday, according to the New York Times.
Collins has openly criticized GOP Senate leadership for refusing to hold court with Obama’s nominee, claiming that the president should be able to name a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
“The President, whether Republicans like him or not, is our President until next January, until Inauguration Day and it just seemed to me that there was no basis for saying that no matter who the President nominates, we were not going to consider that individual,” Collins said Tuesday on Maine’s Newsradio WGAN.
Boozman has been less vocal on the topic, though he issued a statement on the day Garland was nominated that affirmed his solidarity with senators who did not want to vote on Garland’s nomination.
“Our country is very split and we are in the midst of a highly contested presidential election,” the Arkansas senator said in the statement. “My colleagues and I are committed to giving the American people a voice in the direction the court will take for generations to come.”
Like Sen. Mark Kirk (I-IL), who was the first Republican senator to meet with Garland this week, Boozman is up for re-election this year.
