Joe Biden on Thursday ramped up White House efforts to get a Senate confirmation hearing for Supreme Court selection Merrick Garland, as the U.S. vice president offered the most vigorous defense yet of his 1992 comments that senators should not consider a nominee in a presidential election year.
Senate Republicans have used Biden's 1992 comments as ammunition for their opposition to holding hearings on any Supreme Court nominee until Obama's successor takes office next January after the Nov. 8 presidential election.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reiterated that position after Obama on March 16 selected Garland, an appellate judge and former prosecutor, to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13.