Maine’s two senators are calling for full consideration of President Obama’s nomination of federal appeals court Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the United States Supreme Court. Sen. Susan Collins is breaking with her leadership over considering the nomination.
Republican leaders in the Senate say they will not meet with Judge Garland and will not hold hearings on his nomination, effectively blocking consideration of the nomination. However, Sen. Collins says she disagrees with her leadership and has already agreed to meet with Judge Garland. She’s urging the Senate consider the nomination like any other to the court.
“The Senate Republican leader has taken a dramatically different approach. I personally believe that I am doing my job by assessing the qualifications, and integrity and intellect of the Supreme Court nominee,” Collins says.
Although Sen. Collins voted for Garland’s confirmation to the Appeals Court in 1997 that does not mean she will vote for him now. She wants to review his 19 years of opinions on the court and meet with him one on one to discuss his nomination.
“I found in the past that those one-on-one exchanges are often extremely valuable to me and allow me to assess, even in some ways better than a public hearing, what kind of judge the person would be,” says Collins.
Collins’ decision to break with Republican leaders on the handling of the nomination drew praise from Maine’s other senator, independent Angus King.
“She’s right, and they ought to listen to her,” says King.
Sen. King also says that the U.S. Constitution is clear on the process for filling vacancies on the Supreme Court. He says the president has done his job; now it’s time for the Senate to do its job.
“President ‘shall’ - not ‘may,’ or ‘if he feels like it,’ but ‘shall’ - nominate, with the advice and consent of the Senate, members of the Supreme Court. So I think he had a constitutional obligation.”
House members have no direct role in the confirmation process but are obviously concerned about the operation of the nation’s highest court. First District Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree says that if the Senate waits for a new president and Congress to take office, it will be more than a year before the vacancy on the court can be filled. That could mean tie votes on crucial issues – which means they will remain undecided. Pingree hopes that the Senate follows regular procedure and considers and votes on Judge Garland’s nomination.
Pingree says, “I just hope that cooler heads prevail and the decision is made to go ahead with this, so there may be a flurry of 'no’s' and disagreements right now, but I hope in the end they go through with the proper procedure.”
Second District Republican Congressman Bruce Poliquin did not return calls for this story, nor did he directly address Garland’s selection. He issued a statement that outlines the nomination process, including the fact that the House does not have any direct say in the appointment.
One-on-one meetings with Judge Garland and individual senators start after next week’s Senate recess.
