Reid: Clinton should re-nominate Merrick Garland

Senate Minority Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday that Hillary Clinton should re-nominate Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court if she wins the White House.

“I think the American people like this guy, as they should, and I think it would be a mistake to nominate somebody else,” Reid said during a press conference.

The Senate Democratic leader, who is retiring at the end of his current term, stressed that he was only speaking for himself and not the entire caucus.

While Senate Democrats have widely praised Garland, they’ve also stopped short of saying their party’s presidential front-runner should stick with President Obama’s pick to fill the vacant court seat next year.

Democrats, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), took to the Senate floor Wednesday to grill Republicans for refusing to give Garland a hearing or a vote.

But when asked if he agrees with Reid that Clinton should re-nominate Garland, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, said his focus is on getting him confirmed this year.

Despite his comments, Reid remains adamant that it’s only a matter of time before Republicans cave on their current strategy.

He said that while Democrats have a few procedural options to try to force a vote on Garland, they are “very limited.”

“We think, at this stage, this process should go on,” Reid said.

His comments came during a press conference aimed at increasing pressure on Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to give Garland a hearing.

A hearing before Grassley’s committee would be a first step to getting Garland confirmed, and Democrats have made the Iowa Republican a top target.

Outside conservative groups, who support the current GOP strategy, quickly pounced on Reid’s comments.

“Reid and the rest of the liberals in Congress continue to reveal the agenda all along has been to pack the Supreme Court with a liberal majority for the next several decades,” said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots.

Reid, in a separate floor speech, linked the entrenched court battle to Donald Trump, the GOP’s presumptive nominee, saying Republicans want him to fill the vacant seat.

“Trump picking a Supreme Court nominee is a guaranteed recipe for disaster,” he said. “It’s insane my Republican colleagues are willing to entrust such an important responsibility to this egomaniac.”

Grassley told reporters Tuesday that Trump being the party’s likely presidential nominee hasn’t changed his mind on Garland.

He also published a Medium post aimed at “debunking Supreme Court myths.”

“The White House and its paid political activists gear up their latest propaganda campaign, it’s important to separate fact from fiction regarding the Supreme Court vacancy,” he wrote in the post.