W.H. Chief of Staff: We Want to See Garland ‘Confirmed Pursuant to Regular Order’

‘There’s enough politicization in Washington; Let’s get on with our business’

STEPHANOPOULOS: "This really does also have a right now to act. And if the Senate fails to act before the election, would President Obama like to see Judge Garland confirmed in a lame duck session? Some Republican senator like Jeff Flake have said that confirming Garland would be preferable to giving Hillary Clinton a pick if she is, indeed, the Democratic nominee and she wins."
MCDONOUGH: "You know, George, the average length from nomination to confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee turning into a justice is 67 days. We have more than enough time to get that done between now and even the early adjournment that we understand the Senate plans this year. They plan to adjourn early in July rather than traditionally in August. So we think there’s plenty enough time to get that done before the election. We think that the court would benefit from having its full number of justices and we think that, frankly, it would be unprecedented for the Senate to do otherwise.
STEPHANOPOULOS: "But there’s a lot of indication that it’s not going to happen. So my question is, what about a lame duck session? Would you like to see Judge Garland confirmed in a lame duck session if it comes to that?"
MCDONOUGH: "George, what we’d like to see is to see Judge Garland confirmed pursuant to regular order. You’ll recall, I bet you remember this op-ed that was in “The Wall Street Journal” the day after the election in the fall of 2014, George, when Senator McConnell and Speaker Boehner at the time said, Now we can get Congress working again. And, in fact, one of the things that the majority leader, Senator McConnell, committed to was getting the Senate working again. Well, getting the Senate working again would mean giving this person meetings, a hearing, a voting committee and a vote on the floor. That’s the way it’s been done. And to do otherwise would be absolutely unprecedented. We think that’s a mistake. We think it ultimately risks politicizing the Supreme Court. There’s enough politicization in Washington. Let’s get on with our business."

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