Back in session for this first time since Justice Antonin Scalia died, Senate Republicans held firm to the line drawn GOP leaders immediately after his death, reiterating that there would be no consideration of a successor nominated by President Obama.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) — a member of the Judiciary Committee, which considers judicial nominees — said that there we no plans to hold a hearing for any nominee put forth by President Obama.
“I don’t think we are going to have a hearing. I think we’re going to put a vote to next year,” Hatch told TPM Tuesday outside an unrelated Judiciary Committee hearing. “It’s in discussions right now, but that’s where I think it’s heading.”
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), another Republican on the Judiciary Committee, also said a nominee should wait until after a new president is elected.
“My view is there’s no need to have a hearing. Why should you have a hearing? The better solution is to let the American people have a voice in the next election, so I think that’s what will happen,” Session told reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “The American people will speak in this election one way or another about where we are. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me that we would have a hearing if the nominee is not going to move.”
Asked by a reporter if there is any nominee Obama could submit that Sessions would support, he said, “Oh yeah. But he’s not. So that’s the end of that.”
