washington republican u.s. senator orrin hatch write opinion piece publish thursday meet merrick garland fail change view senate act president barack obama u.s. supreme court nominee problem meet yet take place late day utah senator issue statement announce would meet garland thursday call appeal court judge honorable public servant deserve respect reiterate senate act paul edwards executive editor deseret news hatch home state utah say email article draft mistakenly publish newspaper website apologize hatch newspaper readers unfortunate error like many senate colleagues recently meet chief judge merrick garland hatch write piece meet however change conviction senate consider supreme court nominee presidential election cycle hatch add 82-year-old hatch first elect senate 1976 longest-serving senate republican long-time influential member judiciary committee consider supreme court nominees hatch join senate republican leaders assert obama successor determine nov. presidential election fill vacancy leave death conservative justice antonin scalia february democrats accuse senate republicans ignore constitutional duties refuse consider garland nomination copy article archive google deseret news remove electronic publication version await edit senator follow meet judge garland inadvertent edwards add article illustrate unshakeable republican opposition obama democrat appoint replacement scalia democratic president appoint scalia replacement would likely end decades conservative majority court obama nominate garland march 16. hatch help break partisan log jam senate garland two decades ago president bill clinton nominate appeal court garland senate confirmation 1997. oops senator 's article tell phantom meet obama nominee