President Barack Obama is expected to nominate liberal appeals court judge Merrick Garland to replace pro-life Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court following Scalia’s passing. Garland, a federal appeals judge in Washington, D.C., is said to likely be another reliably liberal and pro-abortion judge on the Supreme Court is the Senate decided to vote on him and confirms him.
Garland has previously served in the Department of Justice and on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where he has served since 1997 and is now the chief judge. Obama seriously considered him for the opening created by the retirement of pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens but ultimately chose pro-abortion Elana Kagan.
Garland was a one-time clerk for pro-abortion pro-abortion Justice William Brennan. President Bill Clinton named Garland to the D.C. Circuit Court in 1997.
The question now will be whether or not the Senate will hold a vote on Garland’s nomination. Senate Republicans have vowed they will not consider a nominee until the next president is in office.
SIGN THE PETITION: Do Not Allow a Vote on Any Obama Supreme Court Nominee
Obama is planning a Wednesday morning conference call with Senate Democratic leadership and Judiciary Committee members to discuss the nominee. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will not allow a vote on any Supreme Court nominee until the next president takes office.
Both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have said they do not support a Senate vote.
“I don’t think so, no I think they should do what they’re doing,” Trump said on “Good Morning America” Wednesday.” “I think they should wait until the next president and let the next president pick.”
The nation’s highest court has already seen Obama appoint two abortion activists in Sonia Sotomayor and Elana Kagan. They’re poised to overturn any pro-life law that comes to the Supreme Court and to keep Roe v. Wade in place for 43 more years.
Does anyone really believe that another Obama nominee would be different? The stakes are too high to allow President Obama, in the waning months of his final term, to make a lifetime appointment that would reshape the Supreme Court for a generation.
Do the American people want a justice who adheres to the unchanging text, history and structure of the Constitution, or do they want a justice who thinks the Constitution should evolve with the personal beliefs of unelected lawyers? Voters deserve the opportunity to speak on this subject through the next president.
Leading pro-life advocates agree the Senate should not vote on Scalia’s replacement until after a new president has been selected.
“Regardless of what they said during their confirmation hearings, every justice appointed by President Clinton and President Obama has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to use raw judicial power to remove authority from elected legislators, in order to advance the liberal policy agenda, even where no constitutional provision remotely justified such anti-democratic decrees,” says Carol Tobias of National Right to Life.
“There is little doubt that the next Obama nominee would provide the fifth vote to strip elected legislators of all meaningful authority to protect unborn children and regulate abortion. The result would be invalidation not only of recently enacted state abortion laws, such as the abortion clinic regulations currently before the Court, but also of a host of longstanding state and federal pro-life policies, including the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and the Hyde Amendment,” she added.
She continued: “In addition, there is little doubt that another Obama nominee would be the fifth vote to effectively nullify statutory and constitutional protections against mandatory participation in paying for or providing abortions, and the fifth vote to strip away the First Amendment protections that the Court has recognized for independent speech about those who hold or seek political office.”
Americans United for Life President Charmaine Yoest told LifeNews, “His loss is tragic, and we hope that when it comes time for the Senate to vote on his replacement, that a worthy successor who can pick up his banner can be found after the election.”
Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel: “With the passing of Justice Scalia, the future of the High Court and the future of America is hanging in the balance. The Senate must not confirm any nominee to the Supreme Court from President Obama. The Senate must hold off any confirmation until the next President is seated. Unfortunately the presidential debates have been more theater and less substance about the real issues surrounding the Supreme Court. The election of the next President has now taken on even greater importance. The future of the Supreme Court and America now depends on the Senate blocking any nominee by President Obama and the people electing the right person to occupy the White House.”
In an email today Obama urged the Senate to take a vote.
“I’m confident you’ll share my conviction that this American is not only eminently qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice, but deserves a fair hearing, and an up-or-down vote,” Obama said. “In putting forward a nominee today, I am fulfilling my constitutional duty. I’m doing my job. I hope that our Senators will do their jobs, and move quickly to consider my nominee. That is what the Constitution dictates, and that’s what the American people expect and deserve from their leaders.”
Fox news reporter Shannon Bream provided more details about Garland’s background:
“Garland graduated first in his class from Harvard undergrad (summa cum laude) and then obtained his law degree from Harvard Law (magna cum laude). He was a member of the Harvard Law Review and served as an editor. He went on to clerk for Henry Friendly of the 2nd Circuit and then Justice William Brennan,” she said. “Prior to taking his seat on the bench, Garland served as a prosecutor. At one time he was a Principle Associate Deputy Attorney General – and oversaw the investigation into both the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and prosecution of the Unabomber.”
