President Barack Obama said he had a candid conversation with Judge Merrick Garland — his pick for the Supreme Court — about how a contentious nomination process could affect him and his family.
“For those of us who are more often in the scrum of politics, we call folks like Judge Garland ‘civilians,'” Obama told NPR in an interview released Friday. “And so, suddenly being placed in a war zone like this is something that you want to make sure they’re mindful of.”
Republicans in the Senate, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have said they will not hold a nomination hearing for Garland or vote on his nomination, arguing the next President should pick a replacement for deceased Justice Antonin Scalia. Obama took exception to that push.
“Well, in fact the American people did decide — back in 2012 when they elected me president of the United States with sufficient electoral votes,” he said.
“I think (Garland) had a pretty good sense of the posture that Majority Leader McConnell took immediately after Justice Scalia’s passing,” Obama said, adding later, “I’m sure that he is aware that these days massive advertising campaigns are mounted in opposition to candidates not just for Supreme Court but for Appellate Court judges.”
Nevertheless, Obama said he “wanted to make sure that not only (Garland) felt comfortable with it but his family felt comfortable with it.”