“President Obama has the constitutional power under Article II to nominate a new Supreme Court justice with the advice and consent of the Senate”, Heidi Hess, the group’s senior campaign manager, said in a statement.
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Mr. Obama blasted Republicans who say he has no right to nominate someone and say the Senate shouldn’t consider a nominee until the next president is sworn in.
In toss-up states with open Senate seats in November, several GOP senators said they would back McConnell in rejecting Obama’s nominee.
The divide was pronounced along party lines, as some Republicans have said they will fight any attempt by Obama to appoint a replacement for the conservative judge. Having chosen to move forward, he must serve the nation by choosing someone whose gravitas is strong enough both to demand Senate approval and, more important, to prevent further damage to the court’s standing as an apolitical interpreter of the rule of law.
Court officials said Scalia’s body will lie in repose Friday in the Supreme Court’s Great Hall, after a private ceremony.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement on filling the vacancy shortly after Scalia’s death was announced on Saturday.
“Should the Senate absolutely make every effort to block a liberal justice appointee from President Obama?”.
“How judicial nominations have evolved over time is not historically the fault of any single party”, Obama said.
The White House has been looking for cracks in the Republicans opposition as it deliberates on a nominee.
“Given the choice on the other side of the aisle, and the problem secretary Clinton is having…and the surge we see of somebody like Bernie Sanders, a self-acknowledged socialists, I would say there’s a lot of churning on both sides”, he said. “I expect them to do their job as well“.
Obama stopped short of tipping his hand in terms of who he would nominate.
In the interview Tuesday, Ryan also spoke of Scalia personally, saying, “I knew him, I looked up to him so much, I respected the man greatly…my heart, my prayers go out to (his wife) Maureen and the family”. High court terms begin in October, and the 80 or so cases argued in the course of a term typically are decided by early summer. The funeral mass Saturday will take place at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
The court would be unable to issue rulings on any issue in which the justices split 4-4.
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In Washington, Justice Scalia’s chair in the court’s ornate chamber was draped with black wool crepe in accordance with court tradition following a justice’s death.
