Before Obama spoke, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called on the president to leave the nomination open for the next president.
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“The next president must nominate a justice who will continue Justice Scalia’s unwavering belief in the founding principles that we hold dear”, Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said in a statement.
Scalia, 79, was found dead at the Cibolo Creek Ranch resort in West Texas on Saturday.
Ben Carson said the Constitution doesn’t directly address the standing president’s right to nominate, but he said Obama will certainly make a nomination.
But Republicans who control the Senate – which must approve Obama’s nominee – immediately drew battle lines. In the past, Justice Anthony Kennedy was approved unanimously in the 1988 election year, while Abe Fortas’s approval as Chief Justice failed in the election year of 1968. The first debate being whether President Obama will choose a replacement or will the vacancy be left to the next President.
“A lot of major public policy ends up in court”, said Campbell, emphasizing why Scalia’s death means so much to the US public. Most modern justices retire, giving a president ample time to nominate a replacement and have them confirmed by the Senate before the justice actually leaves the court.
Republican presidential candidate and Senator Ted Cruz called Scalia a, “champion of our liberties and a stalwart defender of the constitution”.
The court faces a crowded docket of politically charged cases that were certain to resonate in the presidential campaign on issues such as immigration, abortion, affirmative action, labor unions and Obama’s health care law.
A Senate looking at a limited legislative agenda in an election year now faces one of the most consequential decisions for the venerable body.
“His departure leaves a huge political fight in the offing because this is a Court with five Republican appointees (and) four Democratic appointees”, said CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
In 2008, Justice Scalia delivered the opinion in District of Columbia v Heller, a landmark case that affirmed an individual’s right to possess a handgun.
Grassley’s statement originally said it was “standard practice” over the last 80 years to not confirm a Supreme Court nominee during a presidential year.
A federal official, who asked not to be named, said that there was no evidence of foul play and it appeared that Scalia died of natural causes.
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“And the U.S. Senate has a responsibility to vote”, she said, adding that Democrats have a responsibility to make sure a Republican doesn’t win the White House in the fall and roll back the progress Democrats have made. “And I very much hope that President Obama will bring forth a strong nominee and that we can get that nominee confirmed as soon as possible”.
