{"id":753,"date":"2016-03-18T03:32:51","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T03:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=753"},"modified":"2017-03-14T15:42:23","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T19:42:23","slug":"remarks-by-president-obama-about-chief-judge-merrick-garland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/remarks-by-president-obama-about-chief-judge-merrick-garland\/","title":{"rendered":"Remarks by President Obama About His Choice for the U.S. Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Special to the WORD<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>from Office of the Press Secretary<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Via Telephone<\/strong>
\n 12:18 P.M. EDT<\/strong><\/p>\n

THE PRESIDENT:<\/strong> Hey, everybody. Thanks for joining the call. I\u2019m not going to be long because Valerie and others are giving you some of the background on this.<\/p>\n

As you now know, I nominated Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit to serve as the next associate justice on the Supreme Court. This is not a decision I ever take lightly. I\u2019ve now seated two Supreme Court justices; this would be the third.<\/p>\n

The men and women on the Supreme Court, they\u2019re the final arbiters of our laws. And it means that this is one of those moments where you have to rise above short-term politics and think about the institution of the Court, and the institution of the presidency, and how does our democracy work.<\/p>\n

I chose Chief Judge Garland because this guy is as well-qualified as anybody who\u2019s ever been nominated to the Supreme Court. That\u2019s not just my opinion, that\u2019s pretty much a universal opinion. He possesses one of America\u2019s sharpest legal minds. He brings a spirit of decency and modesty and integrity and even-handedness to his work. His work is excellent.<\/p>\n

He is somebody who has worked as a prosecutor. As you know, he is somebody who not only helped lead the investigation around the Oklahoma City bombings, but did so in a way that showed enormous compassion towards the people who had been impacted.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been praised by Republicans and Democrats. During his original confirmation process when he was put on the D.C. Circuit, majorities of each party supported him. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, who has been the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said, \u201cIn all honesty, I would like to see one person come to this floor and say one reason why Merrick Garland does not deserve this position.\u201d I couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n

And the Constitution is clear that it\u2019s my job as President to nominate candidates to the Supreme Court. It\u2019s the Senate\u2019s job to give them a timely hearing, and an up or down vote. I fulfilled my constitutional duty yesterday, and I expect now the Senate to do its job, as well. And the American people deserve no less.<\/p>\n

But in order to make this happen, I\u2019m going to need your help. Republican leaders have said they believe the American people should have a say. Well, the American people did have a say back in 2012 when they elected me President. And they had a say when they elected the current senators as senators. They didn\u2019t add a caveat that said we want you to be President except for your last 300 days in office when you don\u2019t have to fulfill your duties. And they didn\u2019t elect senators and say, you know what, this is only a three-quarters or a half a term; you get elected for the full term, and you\u2019re expected to do your job during that entire time.<\/p>\n

So the American people have already had a say, but now what we need to do is make sure the American people will remind senators that they have a job to do. Senators that are trying to obstruct the process need to be told that we expect the Supreme Court to be above partisan politics, and that the Court should be operating at full capacity to help the American people.<\/p>\n

So you\u2019ve got somebody with unimpeachable credentials, somebody the Republicans have themselves acknowledged is qualified. I have made this nomination. The Court needs to have an additional justice in order to be able to weigh on some of the most important issues that affect everybody\u2019s lives — our voting rights; our freedom of speech; issues like immigration; issues like our environment, clean air and clean water; issues of workplace safety. And the notion that somehow we would suspend all that because it\u2019s an election year is not in the Constitution and it\u2019s not been our tradition.<\/p>\n

And, by the way, I think everybody on this call recognizes the election season lasts longer and longer every time. So the election season started six months, nine months, a year ago. Are they suggesting somehow that we should have suspended our work in December or in June of last year, when the presidential candidates were already running around Iowa? I\u2019m assuming that\u2019s not the argument they\u2019re making.<\/p>\n

And as Valerie already pointed out, it\u2019s not as if we haven\u2019t had Supreme Court nominees confirmed during election years before. The difference is, typically, it\u2019s been Republican Presidents making the nominations and Democratic Senates — or Democratic majorities in the Senate who have confirmed them. And what we\u2019re asking is simply that the Senate acts fairly in dealing with an outstanding individual who deserves to be on the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Be fair. That\u2019s something we all learned in kindergarten, and it\u2019s something that the American people I think understand should apply when it comes to the highest court in the land and how we make sure that our democracy and our judicial system work.<\/p>\n

So make yourselves heard. Let senators know that this is something that you care deeply about. And it goes beyond just the typical partisan disagreements that we have; this has to do with the integrity of our system of government. And it\u2019s something that I care deeply about and I\u2019m going to make sure to fight for for the remainder of my term as President. And I hope that you\u2019re right there with me. Okay?<\/p>\n

Thank you so much, everybody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special to the WORD from Office of the Press Secretary Via Telephone 12:18 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Hey, everybody. Thanks for joining the call. I\u2019m not going to be long because Valerie and others are giving you some of the…<\/p>\n

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