Cory Booker, a U.S. Senator from New Jersey, talked to a small group of seniors in Buffalo on Monday about the upcoming election. Booker encouraged residents to exercise their right to vote, saying that the next president will likely shape the Supreme Court for years to come. Afterward, Booker said he supports filling the current vacancy before November.
"It's kind of outrageous whether you're Independent, Republican or Democrat, this will be the first time, since they started holding hearings generations ago, for a Supreme Court Justice, that a party in the opposition to a president said, 'We're not even going to hold hearings, we're not even going to give this person a vote.' This is the first time that's ever happened," Booker said.
The Republican majority, Booker said, could easily vote down President Obama's nominee Merrick Garland. But he says the GOP understands a majority of senators would support Garland. Booker says some of his colleagues are breaking from the Senate majority and meeting with the nominee.
"It is a sad moment when the partisanship, that we all bemoan in Washington, is suddenly really infecting some of the most sacred obligations we have that are clearly spelled out in the Constitution," Booker said.
Booker was in Buffalo campaigning for fellow Democrat and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.