Sen. Jim Inhofe Thursday flatly rejected President Barack Obama's pick to replace late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and it has nothing to do with him personally.
"We shouldn't even be talking about this personality, because no nominee from this president is going to be considered," the Oklahoma Republican told Fox News' Bill Hemmer on the
"America's Newsroom" program.
And, he said, Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit knows that as well.
"I talked to him, he called me yesterday, and I made it very clear, it was already clear in his mind," said Inhofe.
"I'm sure he's a nice guy. There are going to be people talking about things in his past, maybe would not be acceptable. That's not the issue. The issue is . . . under no circumstances are we going to consider the nominee that comes from this president."
Inhofe said Garland did not try to convince him otherwise during the three-to-four minute conversation, and that he told the judge "under no circumstances are we going to consider your nomination, I think you know that. And then we visited about a couple of other things that weren't even germane. So I don't think we'll have any further conversation."
On Wednesday, Inhofe commented that "even if Barack Obama were to nominate George W. Bush, he wouldn't be considered either," and he stood by that stance Thursday morning.
"This is a very distinguished judge, and we all understand that," said Inhofe.
"We can disagree with some of the positions he's taken, [but] I'm not going to be talking about that because that isn't the issue. The issue is we're not going to be confirming anyone that Barack Obama sends to us."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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