Scott: The Next President Should Fill the Open Seat on the Supreme Court

Statement

U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) released the following statement after President Obama announced his intention to nominate Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court:

"Among the most important responsibilities of any United States Senator is our role of "advice and consent' on a range of cabinet secretaries, judges, and ambassadors put forth by a President, including appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. Under our Constitution, replacing a justice is a responsibility shared by both the president and the Senate -- he nominates and the Senate then considers the nomination as part of our advisory role. The Constitution does not make the Senate a rubber stamp for any president.

Sadly, President Obama has spent the last seven years making unconstitutional, overreaching regulations to drive his agenda against the will of the people's representatives in Congress.

The next President should fill the open seat on the Supreme Court, not a lame duck. Our nation is in the middle of an election that will replace this president and it has brought people out in every corner of our country in record numbers to have their voice heard. As elected officials, we need to protect the American people's chance to have their voices heard in the decision on who will be appointed to a lifetime seat on the nation's high court. The last time a majority of the American people went to the polls, they elected conservatives and a Republican Senate to be a check-and-balance to President Obama and his agenda.

I believe that my duty is to the people of South Carolina; not to the President. As a result, I will not consider any Supreme Court nominee until after the country has elected our next president in November and they have taken office in January 2017. This is about the principle that the American people must have a voice in who the next Supreme Court nominee will be and I intend to honor that principle."

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