Colorado’s two U.S. senators had opposite reactions to President Barack Obama’s nomination Wednesday of Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, with Republican Cory Gardner reiterating his position that the Senate should refuse to take up an Obama pick and Democrat Michael Bennet calling on the Senate to “do its job” and consider the nomination.

Most of the Republicans running for the chance to challenge Bennet in the November election also hewed the party line, although former CSU athletic director Jack Graham broke from the pack and said that the GOP-controlled Senate ought to hold hearings on the Garland nomination in order to avoid “fall[ing] into the trap of being perceived as obstructionists.”

Obama nominated Garland to fill the vacancy on the high court created when Justice Antonin Scalia died just over a month ago. Top Senate Republicans said immediately after Scalia’s death that they would not confirm a justice until after the 2016 election, while Democrats said it would be unprecedented to deny a president the chance to make a nomination with nearly a year left in his term.

“The Obama administration continues to use the judicial and regulatory systems to push through its legislative agenda, shifting the balance of power that our Founders established. That is why the next president of the United States should have the opportunity to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court,” said Gardner in a statement released as Obama was introducing Garland.

“The President has fulfilled his constitutional obligation by selecting a nominee to fill the vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court,” Bennet said in a statement. “Now, it is the Senate’s constitutional responsibility to thoroughly vet Judge Garland through meetings, hearings, and a vote to confirm or deny his nomination. It is what presidents and the Senate have done throughout our history.”

Garland, 63, is chief judge on the U.S Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and was the lead federal prosecutor on the Oklahoma City bombing case, which was tried in Denver. He was confirmed to the D.C. Circuit in 1997 by a Senate vote of 76-23.

Bennet noted in his statement that he worked alongside Garland at the Justice Department, when Bennet served as counsel to the deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration.

“Judge Garland has an excellent reputation and is eminently qualified,” Bennet said. “I worked for and with him at the Justice Department and have a firsthand appreciation for his extraordinary legal skill and respect for the law.”

Among the 13 Republican primary candidates running to take on Bennet, none had praise for Garland, though most stuck to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s position Wednesday that blocking an Obama nominee was “about a principle, not a person.”

“It’s despicable that President Obama has used the death of Justice Scalia as a partisan political opportunity since the day that he died,” said former state Rep. Jon Keyser, R-Morrison, in a statement. “Sen. Bennet should join with Americans across our country and support efforts to have our next president nominate Justice Scalia’s replacement to the Supreme Court. The American people deserve to have a say in the choice of our next Supreme Court Justice and that’s why I’ve insisted that the next President should be the one to nominate Justice Scalia’s replacement.”

State Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton, said he disagreed with characterizations that Garland was “too moderate” a nominee to refuse.

“We have seen the kind of bench that Barack Obama has appointed, and every last one of them has been lock-step with the Obama agenda,” Neville told The Colorado Statesman. “The fact is that Merrick Garland avoided votes on most of the important issues of the day. Furthermore, on the Second Amendment, he emphatically opposed the ruling of the D.C. Circuit court to reinstate gun rights for D.C. residents.”

Neville made clear that he believes the Senate should refuse to consider the Garland nomination.

“As I’ve always stated, the Senate needs to stand strong against any appointment that fails to match the reputation, principles and legacy that Justice Scalia left behind,” Neville said. “The Republican Senate majority needs to do everything their power to block this nomination.”

Lakewood businessman Jerry Natividad broke out some rhymes to make a similar point.

“The president has spent the last seven years making a mockery of the Constitution,” he told The Statesman. “Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans should grow a spine, draw a line, hold the line and make sure the next president picks the next justice, as has been customary for generations.”

El Paso County Commissioner Peg Littleton took issue with Obama’s contention that the Constitution argues for swift consideration of a nomination by the Senate.

“Nowhere does the Constitution dictate senators ‘move quickly’ in making such an important decision,” Littleton said in a statement. “Obama made that up, and he hopes we will believe it.”

Littleton said that, as a senator, she would “not vote to approve any nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States who does not have an unwavering commitment to defend the Constitution as it was written and intended by our founders.”

But Graham called for the Senate to consider Obama’s nominee rather than being perceived as “the party of no.”

“President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee should be considered by the U.S. Senate,” Graham told The Statesman. “The consent of the Senate, controlled by the Republican Party, is required. We have made clear that, for a nominee to be approved, that person must reflect the conservative constitutional values of Justice Antonin Scalia. The hearing process is likely to reveal the judicial excesses of virtually all court nominees put forward by President Obama. The debate will be valuable to the American people. The Republican Party should not fall into the trap of being perceived as obstructionists or ‘the party of no’ by refusing to even consider a nominee.”

Bennet took a preemptive shot at the intense political pressure mounting on both sides of the Garland nomination.

“This is not the time to play politics to satisfy our political bases,” he said. “The Senate should do its job. How we manage our constitutional duty to provide serious consideration and deliberation to a rare appointment to the nation’s highest judicial office will determine whether we deserve the respect of Americans who rightly expect us to exhibit dignity, mutual respect, and wisdom on their behalf.”

Introducing Garland, Obama said his nominee planned to begin one-on-one visits with senators Thursday.

“I simply ask Republicans in the Senate to give him a fair hearing and then an up-or-down vote. If you don’t, then it will not only be an abdication of the Senate’s constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair,” Obama said.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com