This post has been updated.
Senate Republicans signaled to President Obama that if he nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, they would consider confirming him during the lame duck session if a Democrat is elected to the White House in November, NPR’s Nina Totenberg reported on Wednesday.
.@NinaTotenberg reports that GOP nudged Obama towards #MerrickGarland as #SCOTUSnominee.@NPR @nprpolitics pic.twitter.com/GMa0m4SXIV
— Renee Montagne (@nprmontagne) March 16, 2016
Totenberg told “Morning Edition” on Wednesday that Republicans had indicated they could be open to confirming Garland under this scenario.
“I’m told that the Republicans in the Senate actually sent some sort of a back channel message to the White House, that if it were Garland they would confirm him if the Democrats prevail in the presidential election. That they would confirm him in the lame duck session. And that the whole caucus would be on board, that it wouldn’t be a fight,” Totenberg said. “I have good sources for this, but, you know, from somebody’s lips to God’s ears, so to speak — who knows.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) also suggested on Wednesday that he would be open to confirming Garland during Obama’s lame duck session following the 2016 presidential election.
“I’d probably be open to resolving this in the lame duck,” Hatch told reporters.
“He is a good man, but he shouldn’t be brought up tin this toxic environment,” he added. “I am tired of the Supreme Court being used as a battering ball back and forth on both sides. That is why I’d put it off till next year.”
Hatch has been a longtime supporter of Garland, supporting his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1997 and describing Garland as a “moderate” just last week.
