The senators left the meeting at McConnell’s office on Tuesday telling reporters they had chose to not hear a Supreme Court nomination until the next president takes office, according to Talking Points Memo. “The Senate Judiciary Committee should seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the nomination until after the political campaign season is over”, Biden said at the time.
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Separately, Sen. John Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican behind McConnell, said, “Correct”, when asked by Reuters whether the path forward on any Obama nominee would be to deny that person a committee hearing.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee pledged to take no action on any nominee, setting up what could be a tense stalemate for the rest of Obama’s presidency on his effort to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Grassley and the other Republicans say their decision is “born of a necessity to protect the will of the American people” in an election year.
Biden is probably wishing he could take back those comments now that a vacancy has opened up on the Supreme Court in an election year and President Obama has the opportunity to nominate someone to fill it – someone who could change the ideological makeup of the court.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid condemned McConnell’s stance as “obstruction on steroids”, adding: “Gone are the days of levelheadedness and compromise”.
After meeting privately with GOP senators for the first time since Scalia’s death, McConnell and other leaders said rank-and-file Republicans were overwhelmingly behind the decision to quickly halt the nomination process.
President Barack Obama’s last two Supreme Court appointees do not uphold our Constitution.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)(center), speaks to the media about the recent vacancy at the U.S. Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill Feb. 23, 2016. He said Democrats never did what the Republicans are doing, noting that he and other Democrats declined to filibuster Justice Clarence Thomas and allowed Alito on the court although a number of them opposed him. “I think we should let the next president pick”, said Sen. Such steps would defy many decades of precedent that have seen even the most controversial choices questioned publicly by the Judiciary Committee and almost always sent to the entire chamber for a vote, barring nominees the White House has withdrawn. Mark Kirk, have already said the Senate should do so.
“In the same statement critics are pointing to today, I urged the Senate and White House to work together to overcome partisan differences to ensure the court functions as the Founding Fathers intended”, Biden said in a Monday statement.
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“We are very comfortable having the American people speak on this issue”, said Wicker, R-Miss. Under federal law, “the Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of a Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of whom shall constitute a quorum”, so if four seats become vacant there will no longer be enough justices to form the quorum necessary to decide cases.
