Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the president should wait until a newly elected president takes office. “There is more than enough time for the Senate to consider [his nominee] in thoughtful way”. The president has absolutely every right to nominate someone to the Supreme Court, but Congress as an equal branch also has every right not to confirm someone.
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Republican Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte – vulnerable incumbents – echoed McConnell, stressing the decision rests with the next president, especially since whoever is chosen could decide the tilt of the court for generations.
Senator Grassley seemed to soften that rhetoric a bit in town hall meetings across Iowa Tuesday.
Senator Chuck Schumer of NY, expected to be the Senate Democratic leader in a year, and Senator Richard Blumenthal of CT called Wednesday for confirmation hearings on Obama’s eventual choice and then a Senate vote on whether to confirm the nominee for the lifetime position on the nine-member court.
Only days after the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the fight over his successor is in full swing.
“They want a right wing Supreme Court to help them overturn Obamacare and eliminate affirmative action”, Ivey ads.
“I expect them to hold hearings”. If the Republicans won the presidential election, there is no way they would confirm an Obama nominee.
The battle lines were set nearly immediately in the hours after Scalia’s death on Saturday. Meanwhile John Kasich dreamed his Impossible Dream that Obama would change his mind about naming Scalia’s replacement, and Marco Rubio informed viewers it has been more than 80 years since a lame-duck president got to pick a Supreme Court justice, which was not accurate.
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. “There are plenty of judges (who) are on high courts already who have had unanimous support of the Republicans”. But Grassley said Tuesday that since Schumer “thought that the balance on the Supreme Court was so important that particular year, we’re very consistent with the philosophy he expressed”.
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That said, Obama suggested, “This would be a good moment for us to rise above” gridlock and obstructionism on Capitol Hill.
