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Southgate News-Herald: Peters talks about need to fill Supreme Court vacancy in talk at Legislative Forum

Gary Peters, the junior U.S. Senator from Michigan spoke at the monthly Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber Legislative Forum on Leap Day.

Peters touched on a variety of topics from what committees he’s on to bills he is working on in Washington. He also touched on the Flint Water crisis, funding college for more or Michigan’s youth, and the expected fight to have a new Supreme Court justice confirmed in the next few months.

Peter’s said that confirmed a new justice is the right thing to do.

“This is just about doing our job,” he said. “Having eight on the court will not work. People who have worked through lower courts deserve final decisions.”

He said that it’s up to President Obama to make an appointment, and then up to the Senate to hold a confirmation hearing.

“Whether we vote yes or no,” he said, “is up to the individual. But it’s our job to have the hearing.”

He said the process usually takes about two months.

Waiting until after the election would likely leave a gap on the court for more than a year, an unprecedented gap.

“The only time in our history we’ve have a gap that long was during the Civil War,” he said.