Kirk: ‘We should be doing our job’
Illinois lawmaker 1st GOP senator to meet Obama’s high court pick
WASHINGTON — Never before has a Supreme Court nomination fight been won or lost in a photo op. But little about this Supreme Court nomination fight is ordinary.
And so to the White House, the scene Tuesday of a Republican senator photographed alongside President Barack Obama’s court nominee, Merrick Garland, was a sign of forward progress.
“We should be doing our job,” GOP Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois told reporters crammed into his Senate office during the congressional recess. “We need for a rational, adult, openminded consideration of the constitutional process.”
Kirk became the first GOP senator to meet with Garland, the latest advance in the slow and deliberate battle of attrition that White House officials have embarked on in the Supreme Court confirmation fight. They aim to ultimately expose Republicans’ refusal to hold hearings for Garland as an untenable position in the eyes of the public and argue that GOP lawmakers themselves are only magnifying the incremental steps inthe confirmation process by ignoring or skipping them.
The fight to get Garland confirmed has shaped up to be as fierce as any in recent memory, pitting entrenched opponents in the White House and the Senate Republican majority against each other amid an atmosphere of deep-seated electionyear partisanship.
A 4-4 decision Tuesday by the remaining justices in a major labor rights case only further underscored the stakes at play.
Garland’s meeting with Kirk was one of ahandful of hopeful signs of late for those who expect Garland to win confirmation.
Local newspapers documented the tough audiences faced at home Monday by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee who would preside over any confirmation proceedings this year.
Grassley, a six-term senator who is up for reelection in November, has been a focal point of efforts by Democrats and leftleaning groups to pressure Republicans into considering Garland. Obama’s allies see consideration of Garland as a requirement of senators’ constitutional obligation to “advise and consent” on such nominations.
Grassley has stood by the Republican view that voters should have a chance to help shape the balance of the court this election year, rather than a term-limited president.
But the White House said itwas “heartened” that Grassley said he was prepared to accept the traditional questionnaire that high court nominees routinely fill out— casting it as another gain, however minuscule, for Obama.
“We expect that, alongside this request, committee members will do their jobs by completing meetings with the nominee, (calling) a hearing, and giving Judge Garland the consideration he deserves,” White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said.
The administration sees other milestones ahead that could help sustain interest in the Supreme Court fight even amid competition for public attention from the presidential campaign and other major news.
Noting that the day after Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Robert Casey sat down with Garland last week, his Republican colleague, Pat Toomey, announced he would do the same, aides say that eventually, more meetings — at least 16 Republicans have expressed openness to seeing Garland, they say — could lead to a hearing, andthen a hearing to a vote.
“There’s a well-defined process for considering Supreme Court nominees, and we’re taking that process one step at a time,” a White House official said. “Two weeks ago, Republicans were nearly universally refusing to meet with our nominee — that’s not the case today.”
But Republicans scoff at the administration’s assessment of the state of play.
“Obviously that’s their hope. As we’ve seen throughout the Obama administration, hope is not a plan,” said Brian Rogers, executive director of the Republican opposition research firm America Rising Squared, which has been focused on the court battle and participated in a discussion with Republican leadership on the issue.
Rogers said that most Republicans, particularly conservatives, continue to support the leadership’s strategy and that the White House is overstating dissent within Senate Republican ranks.
For every Kirk who is at odds with the approach of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, there are dozens of senators who support it.
“McConnell has been as clear as day on this, thatwe are going to go ahead and wait and let the people decide,” Rogers said. “And ultimately, it’s Leader McConnell and the leadership team that is going to make that call. And they’ve shown no signs of wavering.”
A recent survey fromthe Pew Research Center found that 46 percent of respondents wanted the Senate to confirm Garland, while 30 percent did not and 24 percent had no opinion.
While the percentage of Democrats who wanted him confirmed was greater than that of Republicans who did not, Republicans were more likely to say that the Supreme Court was an important issue to them than Democrats.
As for Obama, aides found cause Tuesday from the Supreme Court itself to reiterate their argument for considering Garland.
Split decisions raise constitutional concerns that senators must consider in the court battle, said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
And he employed a Republican to make his case.
In 1988, “President Reagan made a persuasive case that every day … that goes by without the Supreme Court being fully staffed was a problem for the country and one that the Congress had a constitutional responsibility to address,” he said.
“We agree with that.”