Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast

 was the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush. 

 why President Obama's choice for the next associate justice to the Supreme Court would have appealed to Bush as well.

With the opposition party controlling the senate, Painter wrote, the best option "is for the president to nominate a consensus candidate....Judge [Merrick] Garland is just the kind of candidate we would have advised President Bush to nominate if he had been in this situation."

 to explain why he thinks Republican senators should hold hearings and a floor vote on Judge Garland's nomination.

"President Bush was someone who wanted to get the job done," Painter said. "He would not have tolerated a situation where a seat on the Supreme Court remained vacant for an entire year."

Crime, Law and Justice

Shows

Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller

Kerri Miller Feature

MPR News Staff

Author

A former legal adviser to President George W. Bush says Merrick Garland would have been an excellent Supreme Court choice for a Republican president, too.

In an op-ed for The New York Times, University of Minnesota professor Richard Painter saod that even Republican presidents would nominate Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

Op-Ed: Bush would have chosen Merrick Garland

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox