WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) met with Chief Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, in Washington D.C. Following the meeting, Brown called on senators to do their jobs and hold a hearing on Garland’s nomination.
“Chief Judge Garland’s qualifications are without question. After meeting with him, there is no doubt in my mind he is a judge who understands the ways the court impacts everyday working Americans. Judge Garland has my full support,” said Brown. “Hardworking men and women across Ohio go to work every day and do their jobs. They expect their Senators to do the same – and that means giving fair consideration to President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.”
Brown has repeatedly called on senators to give full and fair consideration to the President’s nominee. He has stood with Ohioans, local leaders, and legal scholars – including: Peter Shane, a constitutional law professor at the Ohio State University’s Mortiz College of Law; B. Jessie Hill, Associate Dean at Case Western Reserve University School of Law; and Staci Rucker, Assistant Dean at University of Dayton School of Law – during events throughout Ohio.
Chief Judge Garland’s nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was overwhelmingly approved with bipartisan support in 1997.
Despite recent objections from Senate Republicans, over the last 100 years the full Senate has taken action on every single Supreme Court candidate nominated in an election year. Most recently, in 1988, Justice Anthony Kennedy was confirmed by a vote of 97-0 by a Democratic Senate in the final year of President Reagan’s second term.
