GOPer On SCOTUS Nom: ‘I’ll Consider’ But ‘Decision Has Already Been Made’

Kansas U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, center, a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, and U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, left, talk with reporters after a tour of the Colmery-O'Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Frid... Kansas U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, center, a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, and U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, left, talk with reporters after a tour of the Colmery-O'Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Friday, June 13, 2014, in Topeka, Kan. Their visit came days after the VA released an audit showing that more than 57,000 veterans nationwide had to wait at least three months for initial appointments, including six in the VA's eastern Kansas system. (AP Photo/John Hanna) MORE LESS
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Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas showed some uneasiness with GOP leadership’s decision to blockade President Obama’s Supreme Court nomination, telling the National Law Journal that the “decision has already been made” to not give the nominee a hearing or even a meeting.

“If the president nominates somebody, I’ll consider them by my constitutional responsibilities, but it’s my understanding there will be no hearings, there will be no meetings,” he said Monday. “So I think the likelihood of [hearings] happening is nil.”

The pressure on Moran over Senate Republicans’ refusal to consider a successor to the late Justice Antinon Scalia could increase in the coming days if Obama names as his nominee appeals court Judge Sri Srinivasan, who was born in India but grew up in Kansas. Srinivasan serves on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and has a moderate record. He is reportedly on Obama’s shortlist.

Moran’s fellow senator from Kansas took a harder line on considering Srinivasan if he is nominated.

“My stand on this doesn’t rise on the merits of the individual. It’s the procedure. And you’ve got to let the people decide,” Sen. Pat Roberts told National Law Journal last week.

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  1. I’ll consider them by my constitutional responsibilities,

    I follow the constitution and that is all that matters. My leadership doesn’t have to honor their constitutional responsibilities nor can I force them to. I am proud of them though as they are standing by the tyrant black Obama.

  2. “My stand on this doesn’t rise on the merits of the individual. It’s the procedure. And you’ve got to let the people decide,” Sen. Pat Roberts told National Law Journal last week.

    Unless the people pick a Black Democrat for President, then we’ll bypass him and wait till the next go around.

  3. Avatar for paulw paulw says:

    I’m impressed that Roberts could say that with a straight face. The procedure is that the president shall nominate and the senate shall advise and either consent or not. Refusing to do so is pretty much spitting on the constitution as hard as you can.

  4. If we had a political press corps worth its salt, the Republican move to prevent, indeed, to not even make a pretense of considering, the President’s SC nominee would be getting loudly pilloried every day. Instead, it’s just shoulder-shrugging, both sides do it, both sides are the same-ism.

    The political culture gets degraded every year with GOP antics. Filibusters as a matter of routine, refusing to move nominees in many vital departments, refusing to even meet with the White House budget team.

    And there never seems to be a price paid by these right-wing creeps.

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