Clinton Library releases Merrick Garland files
Clinton Library files released Wednesday on Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland provide more evidence of GOP support for Garland two decades ago when he was nominated to a federal appeals court in Washington.
More than 1,300 pages of files on Garland were made public by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, in response to Freedom of Information Act requests seeking records about the Clinton White House's vetting of the Justice Department official before his nomination to the D.C. Circuit court of Appeals in 1995.
President Barack Obama nominated Garland to the Supreme Court in March of this year following the unexpected death of Justice Antonin Scalia the prior month. Republican Senate leaders, with the support of nearly all their GOP colleagues, have refused to hold confirmation hearings or a floor vote on Garland.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley have argued that the Supreme Court vacancy occurred so close in time to the presidential election that voters should have a chance to weigh in before senators put a new justice on the high court.
Obama picked Garland in part because he is seen as a judicial moderate and is well-respected in both parties. Some of the records released Wednesday underscore those perceptions by showing GOP backing for Garland in the 1990s. In one 1996 letter, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) — the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — pressed Majority Leader Bob Dole to allow a floor vote on Garland despite Grassley's objections that the D.C. Circuit did not require any more judges because of its relatively light workload.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/merrick-garland-files-clinton-library-226614#ixzz4GI3GTeHR
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