JACKSON — Both of Mississippi’s U.S. senators say they think the next president should nominate someone to fill a current vacancy on the Supreme Court.
Republicans Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker issued statements Wednesday after President Barack Obama nominated federal Judge Merrick Garland to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
Cochran and Wicker both say that “the American people” should have a say in the Supreme Court nomination by choosing a new president in November.
Their statements are similar to one issued by the Republican National Committee, which said Obama’s action “denies the American people a voice in this process.”
Cochran says Obama should have followed a bipartisan practice of leaving a Supreme Court vacancy untouched during an election year, but he says Obama has a constitutional right to submit a nominee.
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