Utah Republicans press for quick vote on Utah judicial nominee while maintaining SCOTUS blockade

You'd be hard-pressed to find two more obnoxiously partisan, obstructionist Senate Republicans than the team from Utah, Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee. Hatch is a former chairman of the Judiciary Committee who has made a career out of sanctimoniously sniffing about how horrible Democrats are for doing the very things he himself has gleefully done. Lee is best known as Ted Cruz's only friend, and most recently for blocking any bills with federal aid to allow the people of Flint, Michigan, have drinkable water. Both are enthusiastically blockading President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, but that's not stopping them from demanding a quick vote on a nominee for their state.

Sens. Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch lauded a Utah judicial nominee on Wednesday and called for a quick vote to confirm Ronald G. Russell—but with nearly 20 other nominees, and a Supreme Court pick, already awaiting votes, it's unclear if Russell will find his way to the bench this year.

Lee and Hatch both support Russell, whom President Barack Obama nominated in December, and said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday that he would be an excellent judge on the U.S. District Court for Utah.

"In Ron Russell, I found not only a man with an outstanding resume, but also an upstanding servant of his community," Hatch said. "As such, I was honored to recommend Ron for appointment, and now I urge my colleagues to approve Ron's nomination promptly."

Lee chimed in saying that Russell's hearing was "a good day for the state of Utah and a good day for the federal judiciary." Remarkably, he doesn't think that what's good for Utah is good for the nation and the highest court in the land, and thinks there shouldn't be any hearings on Garland. Nevertheless, he opined on the "weighty responsibility" of the Senate to vet judicial nominees. Apparently not all judicial nominees.

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