“Just treat him fairly. Treat him the way every other nominee has been treated in the past,” the President Barack Obama pleaded for his Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. | AP Photo Obama takes Garland plea to Senate battleground states

President Barack Obama praised Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland on Monday, while urging Congressional Republicans again to grant him a hearing and vote.

"First of all, nobody's disputing that he's eminently qualified," Obama told Josh McElveen of WMUR in New Hampshire, one of six local television stations he addressed about the nomination process. "He may be the most qualified nominee that we've seen before the Senate for a Supreme Court seat.”


Obama spoke to outlets from states with Republican Senate incumbents — Iowa (Chuck Grassley), New Hampshire (Kelly Ayotte), Ohio (Rob Portman), Wisconsin (Ron Johnson), Arizona (John McCain) and Missouri (Roy Blunt) — about what he described as an "unprecedented" process.

"I know that folks like Sen. Ayotte met with him, and the fact that they're not calling for a hearing or a vote means they're not doing their job," he said about Ayotte, who’s facing a tight reelection contest against Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan.

Obama said the current delay in granting Garland a hearing is historically new, suggesting that Republicans in Congress are not fulfilling their constitutional duties.

“What we’re seeing is unprecedented, which is the notion that you won’t meet with or provide a hearing or a vote for a nominee that everybody agrees is eminently qualified,” Obama told WISN 12 News' Kathy Mykleby, based in Wisconsin. “I’m glad that Sen. Johnson now has finally agreed to meet with him. He says he’s not going to give him a vote before the election. And yet, you haven’t heard a good reason for it.”

“Just treat him fairly. Treat him the way every other nominee has been treated in the past,” the president pleaded.

Obama also said that many Americans agree with him, telling Fox 4’s Phil Witt in Kansas City, Missouri, that he has “done his job to nominate a consensus candidate,” but that the process must be followed through to completion.

Obama went on to say that Republicans should help decide if Garland is qualified to serve as the 113th Supreme Court justice through an official hearing and to vote accordingly.

“If, in fact, the Republicans can show that he’s somehow unqualified, that he shouldn’t be on the bench, they should be able and willing to make that argument. But not just shut down the Constitutional process that’s required,” he told Mykleby, criticizing those who have thwarted efforts to grant him a hearing since his March nomination.

“There’s nothing in the Constitution that says that if you’re in an election year, the president shall not make a nomination. It says the opposite. It says you shall. And then it says the Senate shall advise and consent,” he added.

Of Garland, Obama said: “He’s got a great intellect, he’s somebody who understands judicial restraint. He’s somebody who Republicans and Democrats in the past have praised. He has more experience on the federal bench than many of the current members on the Supreme Court,” addressing KCCI Anchor Steve Karlin in Des Moines.

But Obama remained hopeful that Garland would ultimately be able to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat.

"I think ultimately he’s going to get a hearing and he’s going to get a vote and he’s going to be confirmed,” Obama added.

