Al Franken: “I thank my good friend from Delaware. Nomination of Merrick Garland Mr. President, I rise today to address the…”

“I thank my good friend from Delaware. Nomination of Merrick Garland Mr. President, I rise today to address the nomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court. Today marks 84 days since President Obama nominated Judge Garland to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court bench. In that time the consequences of permitting that vacancy to persist have become clear. The eight-member Court has now deadlocked four times, and in two cases where the Court found itself evenly divided and unable to reach consensus it punted, sending cases back to the lower courts. There is no denying that the Senate's refusal to do its job, to take up the business of filling that vacancy, means that in some cases the Court is not able to fulfill its core function, meaning in some cases the Court does not resolve circuit splits and cannot serve as the final arbiter of the law. That is not just my view, that is an opinion shared by one of the Court's current members, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy. Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee back in 2013, Justice Kennedy described what happens when the Court is short- staffed. Although he is discussing the effect of recusals on the ability of the Court to do its job, his comments are no less relevant in the case of vacancies.…”