Rep. Daniel Donovan (R-NY) said on Monday that Senate Republicans should not have rejected President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee outright without waiting to see who the President put forward.
“I’ve never thought that was a good idea. I’ve always thought that the Republicans were wrong, that they should see who the nominee was—actually, the president nominated Judge Garland—and judge him on his abilities, his jurisprudence,” Donovan told reporters at an event in Long Island, according to the Observer. “I think it’s one of the things that gets the public upset about politics, that they see things not moving.”
Donovan said that Republican don’t necessarily need to confirm Merrick Garland.
“But they should hold the hearings and judge this person who’s the nominee on their credentials,” he said. “We’d be able to judge the man better if he was able to respond to some of the questions people have.”
The congressman argued that Republicans obstruction of Merrick Garland will not play well with voters.
“I think this is an issue that people could point at and say ‘see, government’s stalled, government doesn’t move forward,'” he said, according to the Observer. “There’s a very important seat open in the Supreme Court, the people that interpret the rules of the country we live by. And it’s unfair to the public.”
Donovan joins a handful of Republicans, like Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), who have criticized Senate Republican leaders for refusing to consider Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
H/t Huffington Post
I take it he is running in a purple district.
Of course the Republicans were wrong. On the other hand, when wrong is all you have, what else can you do?
However, if they held the hearings & were to “truly judge him on his abilities, his jurisprudence” - according to everything that has been said by all reasonable parties, there would be no basis to reject him - other than pure naked sell-serving partisan politics.
Sounds like someone is cracking under pressure. Ideological grandstanding sounds great when you are in a safe district, but not so great when you’re not.
it’s the Staten Island/ Brooklyn seat, as red as it gets in NYC. Donovan won a special election (58.7% - 39.4%) after Michael Grimm’s tax fraud conviction. Staten Island is the most conservative borough, tons of NYPD and NYFD people.
It’s New Jersey with New York State taxes.