Lowey Says Senate Should Do Its Job and Consider Supreme Court Nominee

President Barack Obama made good on his word to put forward a nominee to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

In a Rose Garden ceremony Wednesday, the president nominated centrist jurist Merrick Garland for the U.S. Supreme Court and pledged to take on Republican leaders who have vowed to refuse to consider any name other than one offered by whoever takes office in January 2017.

But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the floor of the Senate Wednesday and said once again that the American people should have a say in the selection of a Supreme Court by waiting until a new president is in place.

Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey, D-Westchester/Rockland released a statement Wednesday that said the Senate should fulfill its duties just as the president has fulfilled his.

“Merrick Garland, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has the independence coupled with the credentials to be an excellent Supreme Court Justice," Lowey said.

"Now that the president has fulfilled his constitutional duty by nominating Judge Garland to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, it's time for the Senate to do its job and quickly consider this qualified nominee," she said.

"It's what the Constitution instructs, and it's what the American people deserve. Anything less would blemish the prestige of our democracy.” Lowey said.

Patch Staff Writer Greg Hambrick contributed to this article.