The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold no hearings for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's pick to fill the seat of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Sen. Mike Lee said just before Obama's announcement on Wednesday.
"We have been clear, all the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have made it clear, this is a lifetime appointment to fill a seat once filled by a judicial icon, Antonin Scalia," the Utah Republican told Fox News' Bill Hemmer on the
"America's Newsroom" program, confirming the committee will reject Obama's nominee.
Lee said he does not know Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, but he does know a few things about him, including that he's regarded as a "progressive, fairly liberal judge," but said that's not the point.
"It doesn't have so much to do with who the president nominated as it does, we are in a presidential election year," said Lee, and a Senate controlled by an opposing party from the one in the White House has not confirmed such a nomination since 1888.
And even if it is proven that Garland is a conservative, Lee said that doesn't matter.
"I don't care if they put my brother on there or some conservative icon," said Lee. "This is about the principle that we are facing."
Lee said he has spoken with both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and they feel the same way on the issue.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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