Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) flatly rejected President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, saying there was no point in the Senate “endlessly debating an issue where we don’t agree.”
“The American people are perfectly capable of having their say—their say—on this issue,” McConnell said from the Senate floor shortly after Obama’s announcement. “So let’s give them a voice. Let’s let the American people decide.”
“The American people may well elect an American president who decides to nominate Judge Garland for Senate consideration,” McConnell continued. “The next president may also nominate someone very different. Either way our view is this: give the people a voice in filling this vacancy.”
McConnell suggested that the Senate would be better served working on issues that have some bipartisan consensus than what has become a fiercely partisan battle over the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacant Supreme Court seat.
“Instead of spending more time debating an issue where we can’t agree, let’s work towards the issues where we can,” the majority leader said.
