GOP Judiciary: No Hearing on Obama Court Nominee

By Alexander Bolton. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have come to a consensus decision to not have hearings or a vote on a Supreme Court nominee in 2016.

“We believe the American people need to decide who is going to make this appointment rather than a lame-duck president,” Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) told reporters Tuesday after a special meeting of the committee.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said members of the panel reached a “consensus” that there should not be hearings or a vote on President Obama’s nominee.

“My decision is that I don’t think we should have a hearing. We should let the next president pick the Supreme Court justice,” he said after emerging from a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office.

The committee Republicans left McConnell’s office and walked straight into a lunch with the party conference to brief their colleagues. (Read more from “GOP Judiciary: No Hearing on Obama Court Nominee” HERE)

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McConnell: Not a ‘Snowball’s Chance in Hell’ I’ll Relent on SCOTUS

By Lauren French and John Bresnahan. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told a group of staunch House conservatives there isn’t “a snowball’s chance in hell” that he will back down from his opposition to confirming a Supreme Court justice before a new president is elected.

The Kentucky Republican received a friendly reception from the board members of the House Freedom Caucus Tuesday evening. During a 45-minute meeting, the lawmakers expressed broad support for McConnell’s position on the high court vacancy.

Senators and House members frequently address the board of the Freedom Caucus but this meeting, requested by McConnell, was the first chance he’s had to do so. (Read more from “McConnell: Not a ‘Snowball’s Chance in Hell’ I’ll Relent on SCOTUS” HERE)

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