Still, Biden acknowledged that the Senate has a say in confirming the president’s pick.
Advertisement
President Obama is eager to nominate a Supreme Court justice who can attract Republican support in the Senate, Vice President Biden said Thursday.
His Thursday comments regarding the Supreme Court put him at odds with Senate Republicans, many of whom have vowed to block any potential nominee Obama puts forward. “I predict the Republicans will not be able to sustain this position”, he said. Those included the contentious 1991 hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas.
Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are suggesting they will not consider President Obama’s nominee to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia, who died unexpectedly over the weekend, regardless of who it is.
“I don’t agree”, O’Connor, 85, told an Arizona television station. “I think we need somebody there, now, to do the job, and let’s get on with it”.
Some Republican senators have urged their leaders to at least allow the customary Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings to proceed on any Obama nominee.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said that his nominee should get a hearing, and others have left the door open. Sen. “It’s hard”, she added.
Upon further pushback, Earnest said that Obama has already spent a great deal of media time paying tribute to Scalia’s life and judicial service, and that Vice President Joe Biden would represent the administration at the service. Earnest rebuked critics who he said “want to use the funeral of the Supreme Court justice as some sort of political cudgel”.
Although the White House hasn’t publicly disclosed any candidates Obama is considering, he’s expected to look closely at a number of circuit court judges – including some who meet the benchmark that Biden laid out.
Advertisement
In both polls, the divide broke strongly along partisan lines.
