--- title: Dem Debate: Sanders Says No to Keeping Merrick Garland description: If he were elected president, Sanders would ask President Obama to withdraw his SCOTUS nominee canonical: https://time.com/4295512/bernie-sanders-would-ask-president-obama-to-withdraw-supreme-court-nominee/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-15T03:07:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:46:39.091Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bernie Sanders Would Ask President Obama to Withdraw Supreme Court Nominee og:description: If Garland's nomination were not confirmed before the election og:url: https://time.com/4295512/bernie-sanders-would-ask-president-obama-to-withdraw-supreme-court-nominee/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8886fbd549080b31/69888f3f3c163904b845cddd/timepol_democratic_debate_sanders_a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL_democratic_debate_sanders og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bernie Sanders Would Ask President Obama to Withdraw Supreme Court Nominee twitter:description: If Garland's nomination were not confirmed before the election twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8886fbd549080b31/69888f3f3c163904b845cddd/timepol_democratic_debate_sanders_a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders Would Ask President Obama to Withdraw Supreme Court Nominee > 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 [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 15, 2016 3:07 AM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks during the Democratic debate hosted by CNN and New York One at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York, April 14, 2016. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks during the Democratic debate hosted by CNN and New York One at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York, April 14, 2016. Lucas Jackson—Reuters by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 15, 2016 3:07 AM UTC The topic of President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court came up at Thursday night’s Democratic Debate and Sen. Bernie Sanders said if were elected president, he would ask Obama to withdraw his nominee, [Merrick Garland. ](http://time.com/4266396/supreme-court-merrick-garland-nomination-history/) “If elected president, I would ask the president to withdraw that nomination,” Sanders said Thursday. The Vermont senator clarified that he believes the president has every right to nominate someone to fill the seat left vacant by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. “A third grader in America understands the President has the right to nomination someone to the Supreme Court,” Sanders said, while adding that Republican leaders in the Senate have vowed not to hold hearings or votes for Obama’s nominee. But, Sanders has a very specific litmus test for Supreme Court justices and in his opinion, Garland is not up to snuff on Citizens United. Any nominee, he said, would need to make it “crystal clear” that he or she would vote to overturn Citizens United. It wasn’t the first time Sanders voiced his disinterest in the president’s nominee, though he has said he would vote to confirm him. [In an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow ](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-merrick-garland%5Fus%5F56ebe53ee4b084c6721ff46c)Sanders said, “I think there are some more progressive judges out there.” When asked Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she did not want to engage on hypotheticals. 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