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Washington, D.C., should host an Olympics for finger-pointing. There would be no shortage of accomplished practitioners. Start with President Barack Obama, who, in introducing Judge Merrick Garland as his choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the big bench, asked the Senate "to give him a fair hearing and then an up-or-down vote." He told senators: "If you don't, then it will not only be an abdication of the Senate's constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair. It will mean everything is subject to the most partisan of politics -- everything."...

How Judge Garland's deciding vote would reverse key decisions protecting Americans’ constitutional freedoms. March 17, 2016 Joseph Klein    President Barack Obama nominated Merrick B. Garland, who currently serves as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. The White House's strategy was to pick someone whom they believe will be politically difficult for Republican senators to simply ignore – a stealth leftist recast as a “centrist.” The White House even created a new Twitter handle, @SCOTUSnom, to rev up activists seeking to pressure Senate Republicans...

With the selection of Merrick Garland, President Obama has exercised his constitutional power to nominate a justice to the Supreme Court. The Senate should now exercise its constitutional power not to act on that nominee. Garland’s record as a Clinton-appointed member of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals since 1997, and as its chief judge since 2013, offers no reason to believe that his addition to the Court would provide anything other than a reliable fifth vote to the Court’s liberal bloc. In 2002, dissenting from a ruling striking down the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Haze Rule,” he sought to expand...

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz warns as part of his stump speech that we are one Supreme Court Justice away from losing our Second Amendment Right to keep and bear arms. On Wednesday, President Obama nominated for the Supreme Court vacancy created by the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia just such an individual -- Judge Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbis, a Bill Clinton appointee.

Hold the hearings. Talk to the guy, ask him questions, give him his day in court. And hold a vote. Up or down. Hold a vote. I’m a conservative. I’m a Republican. I can’t stand Obama. I don’t trust the politicized Supreme Court. But this bull crap out of Senate Republicans that they aren’t even going to talk to this new Supreme Court nominee is insane. Announcing, within hours of Antonin Scalia’s death, that the Senate would ignore a presidential nomination, was about the stupidest thing ever. It disrespected the legacy and family of Mr. Scalia, by moving the subject...

Several more GOP senators say they are willing to meet with President Barack Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court seat left open by the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia. As Breitbart News reported earlier, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) 33%, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) 45%, and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)14% said they would be willing to meet with Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Judge Garland is a capable and accomplished jurist," Collins said in a statement. "The White House has requested that I meet with him, and I look forward to doing so, as has...

Leading pro-life groups have quickly responded to President Barack Obama’s nomination of liberal appeals court judge Merrick Garland to replace pro-life Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court following Scalia’s passing. Garland, a federal appeals judge in Washington, D.C., is said to likely be another reliably liberal and pro-abortion judge on the Supreme Court is the Senate decided to vote on him and confirms him. Top pro-life groups told LifeNews.com that nothing has changed since Scalia’s passing in terms of their opposition to a vote on any Obama Supreme Court nominee. They say anyone Obama nominates for the Supreme Court...

They say one of the best evaluations of a person, especially in politics, is to know their mentors and understand who inspires him. When it comes to President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, one of his inspirations is the author of Roe v. Wade, the high court case that ushered in an era of 58 million abortions. According to a New York Times report, Garland’s inspiration is clear: Justice Harry Blackmun. As the former legal counsel to the Mayo Clinic, Blackmun appeared to have fell victim of the fallacy that thousands of women died from botched illegal abortions...

Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today told President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland that the Senate will not hold a vote on his nomination. The call came after McConnell took to the Senate floor to announce that Republicans will not back down in their pledge to not hold a vote. McConnell (R-KY) said of the nomination in his Senate floor speech: “It seems clear that President Obama made this nomination not with the intent of seeing the nominee confirmed, but in order to politicize it for the purposes of the election.” “What the president has done with...

The Planned Parenthood abortion business is pulling out all the stops today to lobby the Senate to hold a vote on President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. After President Barack Obama’s nomination of liberal appeals court judge Merrick Garland to replace pro-life Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, the nation’s biggest abortion business is on board. Planned Parenthood’s actions come at the same time as the abortion company’s CEO was spotted heading into the West Wing of the White House, presumably to meet with Obama or his top lieutenants over its support for Garland. Now, Planned Parenthood...

After President Barack Obama’s nomination of liberal appeals court judge Merrick Garland to replace pro-life Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, the CEO of the Planned Parenthood abortion business was spotted entering the White House. The picture prompts speculation as to what kind of help Planned Parenthood will give the Obama administration in attempting to get another abortion-supporting judge on the nation’s highest court. A reporter or Politico took a photo of Richards entering the West Wing. Richards is on the right side of the picture in short blonde hair walking along with someone who is presumably another Planned...

President Barack Obama is expected to nominate liberal appeals court judge Merrick Garland to replace pro-life Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court following Scalia’s passing. Garland, a federal appeals judge in Washington, D.C., is said to likely be another reliably liberal and pro-abortion judge on the Supreme Court is the Senate decided to vote on him and confirms him. Garland has previously served in the Department of Justice and on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where he has served since 1997 and is now the chief judge. Obama seriously considered him for the opening created...

How often does someone get pre-emptive Pinocchios? Barack Obama got three of them today in his speech regarding the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Obama offered a pre-emptive argument of his own, accusing Republicans of “an abdication of their constitutional duty” if they refused to give Garland’s nomination a hearing and a floor vote: resident Obama: The Senate must fulfill constitutional duty At a time when our politics are so polarized, at a time when norms and customs of political rhetoric and courtesy and comity are so often treated like they’re disposable — this is precisely the...

How often does someone get pre-emptive Pinocchios? Barack Obama got three of them today in his speech regarding the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Obama offered a pre-emptive argument of his own, accusing Republicans of “an abdication of their constitutional duty” if they refused to give Garland’s nomination a hearing and a floor vote:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO At a time when our politics are so polarized, at a time when norms and customs of political rhetoric and courtesy and comity are so often treated like they’re disposable — this is precisely the time when...

.@SenateMajLdr McConnell responds to SCOTUS nomination: "Give the people a voice in filling this vacancy" https://t.co/Yfu961lwAS — MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 16, 2016 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday shot down the idea of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland getting a hearing. McConnell insisted in a floor speech that the vacancy should be filled by the next president. “The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country, so of course the American people should have a say in the court’s direction," he said. "The Senate will continue to...

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Here are five quick facts you need to know about Garland.

Despite President Obama citing the bipartisan congressional support his Supreme Court pick received in the past, Senate Republicans vowed to remain firm on not moving nominee Merrick Garland forward. Garland, a Harvard Law grad and the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 1997, stood by Obama's side in the Rose Garden today as the president detailed the judge's list of accomplishments. During the confirmation process to the D.C. Circuit, Obama noted, "he earned overwhelming bipartisan praise from senators and legal experts alike." "Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, who was then chairman...

The conservative Judicial Crisis Network, which plans to spend at least $2 million on an advertising campaign to oppose Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination, says the nominee “has a very liberal view of gun rights.” JCN chief counsel Carrie Severino said in a blog post that Judge Merrick’s record on the bench since 1997 “leads to the conclusion that he would vote to reverse one of Justice Scalia’s most important opinions, D.C. vs. Heller, which affirmed that the Second Amendment confers an individual right to keep and bear arms.” In 2007, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit ruled against the...

Crafty of O to wait until the morning after Trump’s backbreaking wins last night to stick McConnell with this. Now Senate Republicans will face maximum pressure from both sides. If they cave and decide to give Garland a hearing after all, Republican voters who are still cool to Trump might decide to vote for him in a burst of “burn it all down” rage. A betrayal here hands Trump the nomination — assuming there’s any doubt that he’s already on track to win it. If, on the other hand, McConnell stands firm, he’s blowing an opportunity to confirm a...

Senate Democrats are trying to turn the GOP’s refusal to move on the Supreme Court vacancy into the latest episode of the “war on women.” Led by some of their most senior female members, Senate Democrats will take to the floor Tuesday to launch a new messaging offensive that ties the battle over replacing Justice Antonin Scalia to a GOP-led hearing on late-term abortions scheduled to occur later Tuesday. The new tactic, led by Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the sole woman in Democratic leadership, is an attempt to galvanize women in the Supreme Court vacancy fight, particularly as the high...