Toomey plans to meet with Supreme Court nominee, and that’s it, but Casey ready to endorse him

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey dares to differ.
Unlike a lot of his fellow Senate Republicans, Mr. Toomey plans to meet President Barack Obama’s latest Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Unlike his Pennsylvania colleague, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, meeting is still about all Mr. Toomey wants to do about the judge for now.
Mr. Obama has nominated Judge Garland to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
“President Obama’s team has asked if I would meet with Judge Merrick Garland, and I have agreed to do so out of courtesy and respect for both the president and the judge,” Mr. Toomey said in a statement.
He then reiterated his previous stance: no votes on a new justice until after a new president assumes office.
“The vacancy left by Justice Scalia’s passing will not be filled until after the American people weigh in and select a new president, and I believe that is the best approach for deciding whether to alter the balance of the Supreme Court,” Mr. Toomey said. “I plan on making that clear to Judge Garland when I meet with him.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who spoke with Judge Garland after his nomination, and other Republican senators have declined to meet with the judge. Mr. McConnell has said the Senate won’t vote on a justice this year to let voters decide on a new president first.
Mr. Casey left a morning event Tuesday in Scranton and flew back to Washington to meet Judge Garland in the afternoon. With most senators out of town for the Easter holiday, he had the judge one-on-one for about 40 minutes, Mr. Casey said.
Afterward, Mr. Casey all but endorsed the judge. Judge Garland’s 19 years as a district and appeals court judge and years as a federal prosecutor mean he has “substantial experience,” he said.
“Not definitively (endorsing him), but only because I haven’t had the opportunity to go through more of his record,” Mr. Casey said. “I want to go through some (judicial) opinions as well or at least a summary of opinions. I would have to find something that was a substantial problem to not support him. This is someone who is prepared who is prepared by the experience that I just mentioned, but also by temperament as well. He’s someone who because of the variety of experience that he’s had and because of who he is, he’s someone who has the character, the integrity, the temperament and the preparation that you’d want in a Supreme Court justice. He’s got a lot of humility for someone who’s achieved what he has.”
— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK