Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Democrats have offered to hold a confirmation hearing for President Biden‘s nominee for attorney general, Merrick Garland, next Monday (Feb. 8). But on Monday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has rejected the request.
Although Democrats have the majority in the Senate, Graham is still the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee because the Senate has not yet passed an organizational resolution for the 117th Congress, meaning that Senate panels still operate under a Republican majority.
The scheduled date for Garland’s confirmation hearings is Feb. 8, the day before the scheduled impeachment trial of former President Trump.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the soon-to-be incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, previously requested in a letter to Graham that Feb. 8 be the date for the Garland confirmation hearings. He claimed Democrats have run into obstacles to delaying confirmation and called it a national security issue.
Durbin also warned in the letter that he was prepared to take other steps to expedite Senate consideration of Garland’s nomination even without Republican support if his hearing could not take place on Feb. 8.
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Biden’s nominee for attorney general, Merrick Garland (D-Mass.).
In a letter to Durbin, Graham said the Senate is about to hold its first-ever impeachment trial of a former president. According to the procedures adopted by the Senate, the trial against Trump will begin on Feb. 9, “but you want to rush through Judge Garland’s hearings on Feb. 8.”
“A one-day hearing before the impeachment trial of the former president …… is not enough.” Graham stressed that because there is a Trump impeachment trial on Feb. 9, impeachment is not a trivial matter and it requires the full attention of the Senate, so a two-day hearing cannot be held for Garland.
Graham added that Democrats cannot both score political points with an impeachment trial and try to claim good government. He also noted that the committee did not have enough Time to complete Garland’s paperwork.
Trump’s impeachment trial is set to begin as early as Feb. 9, according to a pre-trial agreement reached by Senate leadership. Democrats want to be able to confirm the nominee in the morning and hold the impeachment trial in the afternoon, while Republicans have said they will prevent that from happening.
It’s unclear when the Senate will pass a power-sharing deal to determine how an evenly divided Senate will operate. Senate leaders said an agreement was close last week, but the Senate adjourned for the weekend, so there was no vote on the deal.
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