Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine would not commit Sunday to Judge Merrick Garland’s renomination to the U.S. Supreme Court under a Clinton-Kaine administration.
Kaine was asked by NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press if Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will renominate Garland should she prevail in the November election and Republicans hold firm in their refusal to consider his nomination. Kaine dodged the question, training his fire on the Senate GOP.
“This will be for the president and the president-elect to decide,” he said. “But look, if it comes up for a vote in the Senate, Merrick Garland gets so far over the hurdle of the fitness and character test that is supposed to be the legitimate question for nominees, of course I’d vote for him.” When pressed on the issue, Kaine said it was up to the Republican majority to bring Garland’s nomination for a vote.
Clinton has been similarly evasive on the issue. When asked at a debate in April if she would resubmit Garland’s name to the Senate for confirmation to the Court, she expressed support for the president, before suggesting she may wish to consider other alternatives.
“When I am president, I will take stock of where we are and move from there,” she said.
Should Senate Republicans refuse to confirm Garland before a hypothetical Clinton presidency begins on January 20, 2017, Clinton may chose to submit a new nominee to the high court to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia. (RELATED: Hillary Clinton’s SCOTUS Shortlist Is Emerging)
Potential Clinton nominees are thought to include Judge Paul Watford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit or Judge Sri Srinivasan of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Both were considered by President Obama before he ultimately selected Garland to fill Scalia’s seat.
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