--- title: McConnell: Senate Will Not Act on Garland SCOTUS Nomination description: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says GOP will keep their word and block the confirmation of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. canonical: https://time.com/4261973/mcconnell-senate-gop-merrick-garland-supreme-court/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-16T21:06:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:58:16.476Z article:section: Politics og:title: McConnell: Senate Will Not Act on Garland SCOTUS Nomination og:description: The Senate leader says Republicans will still block a Supreme Court confirmation og:url: https://time.com/4261973/mcconnell-senate-gop-merrick-garland-supreme-court/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43a0f47826d5d292/69888b3e0a4a22f5409c8d6a/gettyimages-475638998.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: McConnell: Senate Will Not Act on Garland SCOTUS Nomination twitter:description: The Senate leader says Republicans will still block a Supreme Court confirmation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43a0f47826d5d292/69888b3e0a4a22f5409c8d6a/gettyimages-475638998.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # McConnell: Senate Will Not Act on Garland Supreme Court Nomination > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 16, 2016 9:06 PM UTC  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) answers questions at the U.S. Capitol June 2, 2015 in Washington, DC. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) answers questions at the U.S. Capitol June 2, 2015 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 16, 2016 9:06 PM UTC Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that the Senate will not act on President Obama’s [Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland](http://time.com/4261526/merrick-garland-supreme-court-senate-3/). McConnell spoke with Garland earlier in the day, but [reiterated that Republicans would not confirm a nomination to the court](http://time.com/4225397/antonin-scalia-dead-senate-republicans-president-obama/) until the next president assumes office, according to a statement from McConell’s office. “The Leader reiterated his position that the American people will have a voice in this vacancy and that the Senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the qualifications of the person the next President nominates,” the statement reads. “And since the Senate will not be acting on this nomination, he would not be holding a perfunctory meeting, but he wished Judge Garland well.” The Supreme Court vacancy comes after [the death of Judge Antonin Scalia](http://time.com/4234849/scalia-obesity-diabetes-death/), a conservative stalwart who’s February death came during what will be a hotly contested general election for the President of the United States. Senate Republicans have vowed not to hold confirmation hearings for any Obama nominee. Garland’s selection, who currently serves as the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and is considered a moderate, is [widely viewed as a compromise](http://time.com/4260899/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee-president-obama/?xid=homepage) on the President’s part. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4261973/mcconnell-senate-gop-merrick-garland-supreme-court/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4261973/mcconnell-senate-gop-merrick-garland-supreme-court/"},"headline":"McConnell: Senate Will Not Act on Garland Supreme Court Nomination","datePublished":"2016-03-16T21:06:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:58:16.476Z","description":"The Senate leader says Republicans will still block any Obama Supreme Court nominee","url":"https://time.com/4261973/mcconnell-senate-gop-merrick-garland-supreme-court/","keywords":["Congress","Supreme Court","Senate","White House","Mitch McConnell","President Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43a0f47826d5d292/69888b3e0a4a22f5409c8d6a/gettyimages-475638998.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43a0f47826d5d292/69888b3e0a4a22f5409c8d6a/gettyimages-475638998.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons","caption":"Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons","creditText":"Win McNamee/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4261973/mcconnell-senate-gop-merrick-garland-supreme-court/","name":"McConnell: Senate Will Not Act on Garland Supreme Court Nomination"}}]}] ```