Texas Elected Officials Speak Out Against Nomination of Merrick Garland for Supreme Court Justice
Wednesday morning, President Barack Obama ended the suspense and officially made a nomination to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.
Judge Merrick Garland (pictured, right) is currently the Chief Justice for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and he has been selected to replace the deceased Antonin Scalia on the highest court in the country. However, a confirmation for Garland may be tough to receive during an election year.
Many Republicans criticized the nomination, including Texas U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R) and John Cornyn (R).
Cruz released the following statement concerning the nomination, "Merrick Garland is exactly the type of Supreme Court nominee you get when you make deals in Washington D.C. A so-called 'moderate' Democrat nominee is precisely the kind of deal that Donald Trump has told us he would make - someone who would rule along with other liberals on the bench like Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor. Make no mistake, if Garland were confirmed, he would side predictably with President Obama on critical issues such as undermining the Second Amendment, legalizing partial-birth abortion, and propping up overreaching bureaucratic agencies like the EPA and the IRS. We cannot afford to lose the Supreme Court for generations to come by nominating or confirming someone that a dealmaker like Donald Trump would support. Washington dealmakers cannot be trusted with such crucial lifetime appointments.
"I proudly stand with my Republican colleagues in our shared belief - our advice and consent - that we should not vote on any nominee until the next president is sworn into office. The People will decide. I commend Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley for holding the line and ensuring that We the People get to exercise our authority to decide the direction of the Supreme Court and the Bill of Rights," said Cruz.
Cornyn spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to voice his opposition, “This morning President Obama nominated his choice to fill the vacant seat created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. In doing so, the President exercised his unquestioned authority under the Constitution to nominate somebody to this vacancy. But that same Constitution reserves to the United States Senate, and the United States Senate alone, the right to either grant or withhold consent to that nominee.
“So at this time I want to reaffirm my commitment to share with other Members of our conference that the President, this President, will not fill this vacancy… And in doing so, we'll follow the same rule book that Democrats have advocated for in the past. The next justice could well change the ideological makeup and the balance of the Supreme Court for a generation to come, and fundamentally reshape America as we know it.
“So at this critical juncture in our nation's history, and particularly with regard to the judiciary and the highest court in the land, the American people deserve a chance to have a say in the selection of the next lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, and the only way to empower the American people and ensure they have that voice is for the next President to fill the nomination created by this vacancy.”
Congressman Mac Thornberry, from Texas 13, also voiced his opposition, "President Obama has a constitutional right to nominate anyone he wants to the Supreme Court, but only the Senate has the constitutional power to confirm a nominee.
“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has clearly stated that the Senate will not consider anyone until the American people have spoken in this year’s presidential election.”