Sen. Rodríguez: President Obama’s nominee, Garland, is qualified and the Constitution requires he be considered by Senate

 

El Paso – Today, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Garland currently serves as Chief Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

 

Sen. José Rodríguez issued the following statement:

 

The President is fulfilling his constitutional duties and now the U.S. Senate must do the same. Senate Republicans can’t shirk their constitutional responsibility and not hold confirmation hearings simply because it’s an election year. Over the course of our nation’s history, the U.S. Senate has confirmed at least 14 Supreme Court Justices in a presidential election year. Senate Republicans want to delay hearings until a new President is in place; this would be unprecedented. Since the Civil War, no Supreme Court vacancy has been left open for a year. Failing to confirm a new Justice would weaken the Supreme Court and compromise a fundamental part of our democracy. Judge Garland is clearly qualified to serve as a Justice and was considered a ‘consensus’ nominee by Senate Republicans, including former Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch.

 

There are over 300 days until the next President takes office, and according to the Congressional Research Service, a Supreme Court nomination takes approximately two months to fill from nomination to confirmation. If the U.S. Senate fails to do their job by refusing to consider President Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, they risk creating a vacancy of historic, unprecedented duration.

 

Unfortunately, blocking President Obama’s nominees has become common place in the U.S. Senate. In Texas, 11 of our federal court seats don’t have a judge¾far more than any other state in the country.

 

The stakes could not be higher for our state. Texas cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court include Evenwel v. Abbott (whether Texas can continue to redistrict based on total population), Fisher v. University of Texas (the ability of our state’s flagship university, UT Austin, to use racial and ethnic diversity as a consideration for admissions), Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (constitutionality of H.B. 2, which places severe restrictions on reproductive services), and United States v. Texas (the ability of the federal government to use prosecutorial discretion for undocumented immigrants that have lived and worked most of their lives in the U.S. without any criminal history).

 

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José Rodríguez represents Texas Senate District 29, which includes the counties of El Paso, Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, and Presidio. He represents both urban and rural constituencies, and more than 350 miles of the Texas-Mexico border. Senator Rodríguez currently serves as the Chairman of the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus, and is a member of the Senate Committees on Education; Health and Human Services; Veteran Affairs and Military Installations; Nominations; and Agriculture, Water, and Rural Affairs.

 

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