Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid on Sunday predicted a “breakthrough” in the fight over President Obama’s pick to replace late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, saying Republican senators fighting for their seats will break with their leader and demand hearings and a vote on the nominee.
Mr. Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland, the 63-year-old chief judge of U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to fill the vacancy created by last month’s death of Scalia, a staunch conservative.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said voters in November’s elections should have a voice in who fills the seat. He said there will be no meetings, no hearings and no votes on Judge Garland.
Mr. Reid said Senate Republicans facing re-election already are cracking under pressure and want to meet with Judge Garland, instead of rolling the dice on a pick by Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton or flamboyant businessman Donald Trump, who leads the GOP nominating race.
“I don’t know why McConnell has done this to his senators,” Mr. Reid told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “He’s marching these men, women over a cliff, and I don’t think they’re gonna go.”
Democratic operatives have pointed to a series of polls that suggest the American people want the Senate to act on the nominee instead of waiting until next year.
Mr. Reid also downplayed statements he made a decade ago, in which he said the Senate isn’t bound to hold votes on judicial nominees.
Supreme Court picks such as Robert Bork and sitting Justice Clarence Thomas at least made it to the floor, he argued Sunday, and said the GOP shouldn’t get a pass for making a political calculation his own party might have made, if the tables were turned.
“Of course I blame them, of course I do … Their excuses are lame,” Mr. Reid said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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