Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Brian Babin (TX-36) issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s announcement today that he will be nominating Federal Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court:
“It's been over 80 years since a new Supreme Court Justice was nominated and confirmed in a presidential election year. Now is not the time to reverse such course. We are in the midst of one of the most important elections of our lifetimes. I strongly support Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to let the American people speak at the ballot box before we hand another liberal Justice a lifetime position on the highest court in the land. The stakes are simply too high to do otherwise.
“In fact, in 1992, then-Senator Joe Biden made clear that the Senate should not consider an election year Justice nomination. Furthermore, in 2006, then-Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and John Kerry voted to filibuster and deny President Bush’s nominee an up-or-down vote. Simply put, the Senate has a Constitutionally protected right to deny the nomination of any Justice put forth by the President. To say otherwise, is purely false.”
