Speaking to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Thursday, Vice President Biden said President Obama would choose “a consensus candidate” to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
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Majority leader Mitch McConnell, who is responsible for scheduling the Senate’s business, has already said there will be no confirmation hearings to approve or reject an Obama nominee. The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016, as preparations are being made to honor Justice Antonin Scalia, who died over the weekend at age 79.
Politico reported that people close to the Scalia family have said that President Obama is making the right choice by attending the ceremony on Friday rather than the funeral.
“But should he decide to nominate someone to the Supreme Court, who knows – maybe it’ll be a Nevadan”, Heller said. Numerous GOP senators have backed McConnell on that, though some have not ruled out hearings and a vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
After host Mark Davis told Cornyn that “there can be no surrender on this”, the senator assured listeners of the conservative talk-radio station that Grassley would “stand firm” against consideration of an Obama nominee.
Talkingpointsmemo.com quotes Johnson in an interview on The Jerry Bader Show: “I’ve never said that I wouldn’t vote, or that we shouldn’t vote”. But Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid predicted Republicans would “cave in” and said he hoped Obama would announce a selection “in the next 10 days or so”.
Earnest again stated that Vice President Biden and his wife will be attending the funeral as representatives of the Administration, adding Biden had “his own personal relationship with Justice Scalia”.
The court would be unable to issue rulings on any issue in which the justices split 4-4.
“Yes, I’m confident he’ll – he’ll reach out to the Senate and go through the process of advise and consent”, he replied. Among the names of potential candidates circulating in Washington corridors is Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval – a Republican who supports abortion rights – although it would be unusual for Obama to nominate a candidate from the opposite party. His death has set off an unprecedented political battle between the White House and the Republican-controlled Senate over how and when he should be replaced, with the court’s ideological balance at stake.
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Maureen Scalia, center, widow of U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, waits on the portico of the court building to receive her husband’s casket February 19, 2016, in Washington, D.C. Republicans, who control the Senate, are likely to keep the Senate officially in session continuously for the rest of the Obama’s term. High court terms begin in October, and the 80 or so cases argued in the course of a term usually are decided by early summer.
