Minnesota Democrats urge Senate vote on Supreme Court pick

U.S. Sen. Al Franken stepped up pressure Thursday on Senate Republicans to hold a confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

The Minnesota Democrat said the Senate has a responsibility to hold the hearings and vote on President Obama's nominee.

Democrats' intensifying attacks around the country comes as Senate Republican leaders, like Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have refused to hold hearings to consider Garland's nomination.

"It's enormously frustrating," Franken said at a news conference at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul. "It's [the Senate's] responsibility to provide the advice and consent … the Supreme Court is too important."

With eight justices currently on the court, decisions could end up in a tie, said John Baker, an attorney with Minneapolis firm Green Espel. He said without compromises, the judicial deadlock could drag on.

"We may be in this situation for years to come," he said at the news conference. "We need a Supreme Court functional enough to break ties."

Franken and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, both Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are taking varying routes in urging Republican colleagues to hold a confirmation hearing.

Franken's office posted a video of the junior senator challenging Republican colleagues during a Judiciary Committee hearing last week on their inconsistencies. The video has garnered more than 2 million views so far.
Sen. Franken Pushes Back Against... - U.S. Senator Al Franken | Facebook

"I just want to continue making the case to the American people and the people in Minnesota to put pressure on Republicans to back off their position, which I don't think is particularly principled," he said in an interview from Minnesota on Wednesday. "They have already begun to soften … my hope is they will continue to do that."

He is referring to the 13 Senate Republicans — including Florida's Marco Rubio — who have said they are willing to meet with Garland or believe that he should get a hearing.

Franken, who has previously canvassed the country to help Democrats challenging incumbent Senate Republicans up for re-election, said he would consider taking the Supreme Court fight on the road.

"I think Judge Garland has impeccable credentials," he said. "I think he deserves a hearing."

"I've been trying to ask, respectfully, that we have a hearing," she said.

Klobuchar said she had no plans to take her personal pleas on the road to push Republicans in their home states.

"I'm not barnstorming the country making this case," Klobuchar said. "I'm trying to make the case the best way I know how and that's in D.C. and I've made the case in our state. I plan on making floor speeches."

Democratic groups have held more than three dozen events in states with Republican senators protesting the decision not to hold a confirmation hearing for Garland. Other groups thanked Judiciary Committee Democrats this week for their increasingly vocal roles in advocating on Garland's behalf. About 20 demonstrators from Moveon.org gathered outside Franken's St. Paul office on Monday.

Senators are home on an extended Easter recess.

Staff writer Patrick Condon contributed to this story.