Obama nominates centrist for Supreme Court

US President Barack Obama has named Merrick Garland, a moderate centrist, to replace late Antonin Scalia in the Supreme Court, giving the Republican majority of the Senate the turn to either consider him or still insist on remaining optimistic about a GOPer president in White House in 2017.

Scalia’s death recently triggered political tensions in Washington as Republicans vowed to block anyone nominated by Obama as a successor.

Scalia, who died in mid-February at the age of 79, was a staunch conservative and the court’s longest-serving member.  

Speaking at the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, the president said the 63-year-old appeals court judge deserves a full hearing and a confirmation vote, calling him "a serious man and an exemplary judge."

Obama urged the Senate to "play it straight," noting that the court is “supposed to be above politics. It has to be. And it should stay that way."

Garland, who currently serves as the chief judge for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is “ not only one of America’s sharpest legal minds but someone who brings into his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity even-handedness and excellence,” Obama said.

Standing between his nominee and Vice President Joe Biden, Obama added that Garland is “uniquely prepared to serve immediately.”

The judge, for his part, branded the nomination “the greatest honor of my life,” saying “Life of public service is as much a gift to the person who serves as it is to those he is serving.”

GOP’s move

According to the Associated Press, not all the Republicans agree with the “no-hearing, no-vote, not-even-meeting stance.”

US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, however, remained rigid, saying the Senate would not act on Garland's nomination or meet with him.

According to McConnell's spokesman, Don Stewart, "Rather than put Judge Garland through more unnecessary political routines orchestrated by the White House, the leader decided it would be more considerate of the nominee's time to speak with him today by phone."

McConnell (pictured above) told the appellate court judge that "since the Senate will not be acting on this nomination, he would not be holding a perfunctory meeting, but he wished Judge Garland well," Stewart added.

Presidential candidates

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said he would back the senators.

The Republican senator from Texas noted in a statement that Wednesday's nomination "is exactly the type of Supreme Court nominee you get when you make deals in Washington."

Cruz said if Garland were confirmed, he would undermine Second Amendment gun rights among other things.

Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich also said that the Obama administration should wait for a while before the decision as there is “polarization” in the US Congress.

Democratic Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders voiced support for the nomination, saying the Republicans’ refusal to hold a hearing would be unprecedented.

He called on the Senate to hold a hearing if Garland is approved by the Judiciary Committee, noting that Obama has embarked on declaring a nominee and it is the senators’ turn to do their job.

Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton said the senators need to follow what "they swore to undertake," noting that Obama’s nominee has a "brilliant legal mind and a long history of bipartisan support and admiration."

Confirmation of a justice "should not be an exercise in political brinkmanship and partisan posturing” or depend "on the party affiliation of a sitting president,” she said. “Nor does the Constitution make an exception to that duty in an election year."

The presidential candidates’ remarks were made ahead of the next primary in Arizona.

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