The battle for the Supreme Court is heating up in Washington, D.C., with rhetoric over who should be appointed for the open Kennedy seat reaching a fever pitch. Sources inside the White House have indicated that the decision is down to three judges.
In private conversations with the president, however, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer has indicated that he would like the nominee to be Merrick Garland. Garland was the failed Obama nominee who did not get a hearing in the Senate because McConnell would not allow one during a presidential election year.
According to the Washington Post:
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) privately urged President Trump in a phone call earlier this week to nominate federal Judge Merrick B. Garland, then President Barack Obama’s third nominee to the Supreme Court who was summarily shunned by Senate Republicans in 2016, to replace retiring Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.
Trump had called Schumer on Tuesday afternoon for a Supreme Court-centered conversation that lasted less than five minutes, according to a person familiar with the call. Schumer, the person said, pressed the president to name Garland to succeed Kennedy, arguing doing so would help unite the country.
news from @seungminkim: Schumer urges Trump to tap Merrick Garland for Supreme Court… plus short list is now, informally, down to 3 https://t.co/xVI9yuGhGD
— Robert Costa (@costareports) July 5, 2018
In response to the request from Schumer, the official campaign account of Mitch McConnell tweeted a GIF of Michael Jordan hysterically laughing till he cried.
— Team Mitch (@Team_Mitch) July 5, 2018
So, there’s that.