Klobuchar Calls On The Senate To Approve Obama's High Court Pick
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar called Tuesday on the U.S. Senate to confirm President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee before a new president is sworn in.
Eight months after the death of Antonin Scalia, the Republican U.S. Senate still refuses to vote -- or even set a hearing -- for Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland.
"If they keep doing this, it's just going to be the Trump campaign for another year," said Klobuchar, a Democrat and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee at a meeting with law students at the University of Minnesota.
Not only will Senate Republicans not vote on Garland, many refuse to even meet with him.
"I think it's outrageous!," said former Vice President Walter Mondale.
He says hostility is so high, he's worried about future nominees -- especially in a Washington with Hillary Clinton and a Republican Senate.
"That'd be a hell of a way to kick off a new, four-year presidency," he said.
Mondale and Klobuchar say the next president could appoint two or three justices to the High Court.
With only two weeks left in the presidential campaign, Donald Trump says justices are his top issue.
"The Supreme Court is what it is all about," he said. "It is just so imperative that we have the right justices."
Clinton, meanwhile, is calling on the Senate to confirm Garland before Obama leaves office.
"I would hope that the Senate would do its job, and confirm the nominee that President Obama has sent," she said.
There may be some daylight.
While Klobuchar calls the election campaign toxic, she says she's now talking with fellow Senators about holding confirmation hearings for Garland after the election -- but before the end of the year.
"There have been a lot of people who have pledged that we should not have a hearing before next year," she said. "But it seems to me that it would be perfect to have a hearing and get this done before our new president comes in."
