Hatch: "Democrats are peddling false claims about the Constitution and the Supreme Court vacancy"

Statement

Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the longest-serving member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, took to the Senate floor today to reaffirm the independent role of the Senate in the Supreme Court confirmation process. In defending the decision to consider a Supreme Court nominee after the election season, Hatch discredited several false claims made by President Obama and his supporters about the Senate's role in filling the current vacancy.

"I have yet to hear an argument from the other side regarding the Scalia vacancy that is not contradicted by present facts, by their own past actions, or by both," Hatch said. "The Constitution assigns to this body the responsibility of advice and consent as an important check on the President's power to appoint. Advice and consent begins with a judgment about the best way to exercise the Senate's power in each situation. We have done so in different ways, at different times, under different circumstances."

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