Confirmation vote could come as early as this week
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the nomination of Merrick Garland to be attorney general by a bipartisan vote Monday, setting up a potential final floor vote on confirmation as early as this week.
The 15-7 vote was expected, as senators from both parties had indicated they supported Garland leaving his longtime spot on the federal appeals court in Washington to run the Justice Department.
Illinois Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the committee chair, said there wasn’t much left to say about Garland and called him “a man of extraordinary qualifications.”