President Obama called on the Senate to “rise above day-to-day politics” and consider his as-yet-unnamed pick to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
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Republican Senator Mark Kirk, who represents President Obama’s home state of IL, faces a tough race for re-election and has not yet said whether he will back McConnell’s decision to block a nominee put forth by President Obama.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he doesn’t think Obama should be putting a candidate forward.
Obama went on to say that he’s “amused” by those who say they’re strict interpreters of the Constitution putting things in it that aren’t there, adding that “There is more than enough time” for the Senate to get someone through.
“We’ve nearly gotten accustomed to how obstructionist the Senate’s become when it comes to nominations”, he said, riffing off nominations to various posts still pending in Congress. “Every nomination is contested, everything is blocked, regardless of how qualified the person is, even when there’s no ideological objection to them”.
It is equally upsetting knowing that an eight-member court will be ruling on legislation and other issues and may be prevented from reaching a final decision because the ninth vote will not be there to break tie-votes.
Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told home-state Radio Iowa on Tuesday morning that he would wait until a nomination is made before deciding whether to hold a confirmation hearing. “I intend to do my job”.
With the looming nomination creating ripples in the presidential campaign, Obama sought to broaden his argument by calling the dispute emblematic of years of escalating partisan hostilities over judicial nominations.
Despite those likely complications, we believe the Senate should hold off on confirming anyone nominated by President Obama.
Obama, whether you like him or not, was elected for two terms as president.
Senate Democrats are already trumpeting what they see as a predictable caving on the part of Republicans. Rob Portman, who is in a battle for his seat in November against former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, said a new president should be allowed to make the selection. “There’s no exemptions for when a vacancy could tip the balance of the court”, Schultz said. Before Scalia’s death, it had five conservatives and four liberals.
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Democrats are so successful in this area, they actually have Republicans on the defensive over nominees who simply believe that the Constitution means just what it says and that it is only a “living document” through the constitutional amendment process.
