Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said Wednesday it is “shameful and indefensible” that Senate Republicans are refusing to consider any appointee to the Supreme Court by President Obama.
“The Senate Republicans’ announcement today that they will refuse to consider any appointee by President Obama for the Supreme Court — no hearing, no debate, and no vote, on any potential nominee — is shameful and indefensible,” Mrs. Clinton said in a statement released Wednesday. “Some Republicans have even suggested President Obama has no right to nominate anyone, as if somehow he’s not a real president.”
Mrs. Clinton said the Republicans’ refusal to hold hearings was “unprecedented” and “an offense to the president and to the American people who elected him.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday there is no way that Republicans will take up President Obama’s pick to fill the Supreme Court, citing an election that’s already underway and Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s decades-old protest against campaign season nominees.
GOP members of the Judiciary Committee unanimously shot down any prospect of a hearing, and Mr. McConnell agreed.
“I have many faults, but getting off-message is not one of them — this nomination will be determined by whoever wins the presidency in the fall,” said Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican. “I agree with the Judiciary Committee’s recommendation that we not have hearings. In short, there will not be action taken.”
Republican leaders said they have no interest in even meeting Mr. Obama’s eventual pick, saying they wouldn’t want to give the public the wrong idea.
• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this report.
• Kelly Riddell can be reached at kriddell@washingtontimes.com.
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