Senate Republican leader: No lame-duck hearing of court pick
By Associated Press
Mar 20, 2016 9:05 AM CDT
In this March 17, 2016, photo, Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s choice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, sits during a meeting with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on Capitol Hill in Washington. Garland’s record as a judge over nearly two decades indicates he...   (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The leader of the Republican-controlled Senate is ruling out the idea of considering President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee after the November election — as one GOP colleague has suggested.

That talk had come up in the event the presidency went to a Democrat who might nominate someone seen as more liberal than Obama's pick, federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland. Hillary Clinton is now the Democratic front-runner.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has stood firm in saying the Senate would leave the pick to the next president. In broadcast interviews on Sunday, the Kentucky Republican is quashing the idea that Garland's nomination would come up for consideration after the election in a lame-duck session.

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake has raised that scenario.