--- title: Mitch McConnell Rules Out Confirming Supreme Court Nominee description: Mitch McConnell tried to shut down musings that President Obama's latest pick for the Supreme Court could still find a way to be confirmed canonical: https://time.com/4265434/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-supreme-court/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-20T15:23:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:03:20.608Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senate Leader Rules Out 'Lame Duck' Supreme Court Confirmation og:description: "We're not going to be confirming a judge to the Supreme Court under this president" og:url: https://time.com/4265434/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-supreme-court/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30aa2f2c35fbf32f/69888bb13c1639c35745c7fe/mitch-mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Lawmakers Speak To Press After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons On Capitol Hill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senate Leader Rules Out 'Lame Duck' Supreme Court Confirmation twitter:description: "We're not going to be confirming a judge to the Supreme Court under this president" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30aa2f2c35fbf32f/69888bb13c1639c35745c7fe/mitch-mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senate Majority Leader Rules Out 'Lame Duck' Supreme Court Confirmation by [Shawna Thomas / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Shawna Thomas / NBC News Mar 20, 2016 3:23 PM UTC  Mitch McConnell listens during a news briefing after the weekly Republican policy luncheon in Washington, DC, on March 8, 2016. Mitch McConnell listens during a news briefing after the weekly Republican policy luncheon in Washington, DC, on March 8, 2016.Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Shawna Thomas / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Shawna Thomas / NBC News Mar 20, 2016 3:23 PM UTC Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Sunday tried to shut down Beltway musings that President Obama’s [latest pick for the Supreme Court](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/who-merrick-garland-meet-president-obama-s-nominee-supreme-court-n539841) could still find a way to be confirmed in the lame duck session if Hillary Clinton wins the election. When asked whether he would completely rule out a “lame duck scenario” for Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, McConnell told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “We’re not going to be confirming a judge to the Supreme Court under this president.” When pushed on the possibility that someone more liberal than Garland could be nominated in 2017 if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, McConnell responded, “It’d be hard to be more liberal than Merrick Garland, but it’s my hope that she will not be making the appointment.” [Read more from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/mcconnell-no-lame-duck-supreme-court-confirmation-n542206?cid=par-time%5F20160320) Mitch McConnell Rules Out Confirming Supreme Court Nominee ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4265434/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-supreme-court/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4265434/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-supreme-court/"},"headline":"Senate Majority Leader Rules Out 'Lame Duck' Supreme Court Confirmation","datePublished":"2016-03-20T15:23:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:03:20.608Z","description":"\"We're not going to be confirming a judge to the Supreme Court under this president\"","url":"https://time.com/4265434/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-supreme-court/","keywords":["Supreme Court"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30aa2f2c35fbf32f/69888bb13c1639c35745c7fe/mitch-mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shawna Thomas / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30aa2f2c35fbf32f/69888bb13c1639c35745c7fe/mitch-mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Lawmakers Speak To Press After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons On Capitol Hill","caption":"Lawmakers Speak To Press After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons On Capitol Hill","creditText":"Alex Wong—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/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4265434/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-supreme-court/","name":"Senate Majority Leader Rules Out 'Lame Duck' Supreme Court Confirmation"}}]}] ```