Gary L. Evans: Senate has to ‘advise and consent’

Before someone decides to go public citing the U.S. Constitution, I wish he would at least read and understand what the U.S. Constitution says and means! The writer of the March 21 letter “The Senate’s obligation” could certainly benefit from this.

The writer stated “the Senate has a clear constitutional obligation to complete the process with hearings and a yes or no vote.” My question is, just exactly where in the Constitution is there any such reference to this “clear constitutional obligation”?

In actuality, the only responsibility mentioned in the Constitution is for the Senate to “advise and consent” to the president’s SCOTUS nomination. That is all, plain and simple. And the Senate has fulfilled its duty by advising the president that it will not hold any more hearings with regard to judicial nominations this year, and because there will be no hearings, there will be no consent, plain and simple.

Like it or not, that is what the Constitution says.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Gary L. Evans: Senate has to ‘advise and consent’."