GOP senator meets with Garland, says hearings should be held

WASHINGTON – A Republican senator said Tuesday she is “more convinced than ever” there should be hearings on President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee after meeting with Judge Merrick Garland.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made clear he is not budging, telling reporters, “I think it’s safe to say there will not be hearings or votes.”

Maine Sen. Susan Collins sat down with Garland on Capitol Hill for more than an hour. She is one of two GOP senators who called for hearings on Garland’s nomination. The other is Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois.

“He has a humility about him,” Collins said immediately after the meeting. “He has clearly thought very deeply about the issues confronting the courts, there was not any question he could not handle, and he has a long record of accomplishment.”

Collins acknowledged she is unlikely to change anyone’s mind. McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa have held firm that they will block Garland and let the next president decide, a move conservative activists have cheered. Those two GOP leaders have the backing of 50 other GOP senators.

Not long after Collins made her comments, McConnell said Democrats’ attempts to pressure Republicans on the issue during the Senate’s just-completed spring recess had failed.

“The situation when we broke for the recess two weeks ago was that there were 52 Republican senators who didn’t think we needed either a hearing or a vote in committee. And today, two weeks later, we have 52 Republicans who think we don’t need either a hearing or a vote in committee,” McConnell said.

Conservative activists immediately targeted Collins. One group, FreedomWorks, said Collins was caving to the White House and wasn’t to be trusted. The group said its grass-roots supporters sent 1.44 million messages to Senate Republicans on Tuesday, including almost 50,000 to Collins.

Democratic senators took turns Tuesday railing against the GOP stance, accusing Republicans of failing to complete their constitutional duties because of pressure from conservative groups and the billionaire donor Koch brothers. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid suggested Democrats might attempt procedural maneuvers to try to force a vote on the nominee, a strategy that would be unlikely to succeed.

Another member of the Senate Democratic leadership, Patty Murray of Washington, acknowledged the success of the conservative activists: “Sadly, so far it seems to be working. Republicans who started to listen to their constituents are backing away and other Republicans are seeing what happens to anyone who even talks about doing their job.”

Another Republican who met with Garland on Tuesday, Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, said he used the meeting to reiterate McConnell’s position.

“I really wanted to convey in person my position that the next president should be the person that fills the vacancy,” Boozman said after the meeting. “That’s what we talked about and the fact that my position is firm, I’m not supporting going forward with hearings or a vote or anything of that nature.”

In all, close to 20 GOP senators have said they are willing to meet Garland, though most, like Boozman, oppose letting the confirmation process progress.