Sen. Kirk on SCOTUS Nominee: 'Just Man Up and Cast a Vote'

An Illinois GOP lawmaker is breaking ranks with the Senate leadership, urging colleagues to "man up and cast a vote" on Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

In an interview on Chicago radio station WLS, Sen. Mark Kirk said the upper chamber must "go through the process the Constitution has already laid out," the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

"The president has already laid out a nominee who is from Chicagoland and for me, I’m open to see him, to talk to him, and ask him his views on the Constitution," Kirk tells the "Big John Howell Show." 

"Just man up and cast a vote. The tough thing about these senatorial jobs is you get 'yes' or 'no' votes. Your whole job is to either say 'yes' or 'no,' and explain why.'"

Kirk's demand didn't go far enough for the campaign team of Illinois Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth, who's trying to unseat the incumbent in November, the Sun-Times reports.

Democratic Party of Illinois adviser Sean Savett called for Kirk to "publicly rebuke [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell and his Republican leadership’s strategy and ask them to stop obstructing an Illinois native’s nomination," the Sun-Times reports.

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