Roberts Shoots Down Last-Ditch Effort To Force Senate Action On Garland

Chief Justice John Roberts rejected without comment a New Mexico lawyer’s emergency appeal to force the Senate to consider the high court nomination of Judge Merrick Garland. In his appeal, Steven Michael argued that Senate Republicans had violated the Constitution by refusing to hold hearings on Garland’s nomination. Lower courts had already dismissed Michael’s case. He filed it in the summer, ahead of the nomination of President-elect Donald Trump, which effectively ended Garland’s hopes for securing a seat on the Court.