Republicans urged to have hearings on Supreme Court confirmation

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan along with former U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach and Austintown Trustee Kenneth A. Carano, all Democrats, called on Republicans in the U.S. Senate today to hold hearings on the confirmation of Judge Merrick Garland, the president’s nominee for the Supreme Court.

Most Senate Republicans, including Rob Portman of the Cincinnati area, say they want to wait until after a new president is elected before having confirmation hearings on the vacant court seat.

“When you get elected to a position of responsibility like the U.S. Senate, you have an obligation to do your constitutional duty; do your job,” said Ryan of Howland, D-13th.

Dettelbach, who resigned Feb. 5 after nine years as the U.S. Attorney for Ohio’s Northern District, said having a vacancy on the court for so long “is unfair, unwise and even unsafe.”

Kevin Smith, a Portman spokesman, said the senator is “focused on the issues that Ohio families care about: jobs and the economy, terrorism, and the heroin epidemic that is gripping our state.”