But Sen. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican facing a tough re-election bid, went a step further than Collins and said that not only should a nominee get a hearing, but also a vote – something Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to stop from happening. Committee member Lindsey Graham of SC said he would not meet with a nominee.
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“I believe the overwhelming view of the Republican conference of the Senate is that this nomination, this vacancy, should not be filled by this lame-duck president”, McConnell told reporters after his conference met behind closed doors for lunch.
In a fiery floor speech, Reid said McConnell’s ploy to keep the Supreme Court short one member until the 2016 presidential election is taking the strategy of unilaterally blocking Obama’s agenda to a new level, undermining the Constitution as well as the two-party system of government.
“In this case, the Senate will withhold it”, he concluded.
Joe Biden argued in 1992 that the president should not nominate any Supreme Court candidates until after that year’s presidential election.
Biden says as senator he ensured prompt consideration for Supreme Court nominees and the Senate must do that now. At his Monday briefing, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the president is committed to nominating a candidate with impeccable credentials, and that the Senate should “do its job”, hold hearings and vote on his choice.
“We will institute the Thurmond Rule, yes.” – former Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., at Georgetown University in December 2006. McConnell said even Vice President Joe Biden had argued back in 1992 for postponing action on Supreme Court nominees during an election year.
The vice president added that his record chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee for eight years was “hard to beat”. Scalia was known as a linchpin of the court’s conservative wing, and Obama’s decision not to attend his funeral Saturday earned the ire of many Republicans.
That potential for another vacancy came after three bitterly contested nominees under Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bush, according to the New York Times: William H. Rehnquist in 1986, who received the most “no” votes of any justice until that time; Robert H. Bork, who was actually rejected by the Senate in 1987; and Clarence Thomas, who was approved, but with even more opposition than Chief Justice Rehnquist endured. Democrats will be able to point to the hearings as proof that the Republican led Senate has been an obstructionist one. At the time, King said the Senate is obligated to consider a nominee, while Collins said she would give a nominee her “full attention”.
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. “This is not an accurate description of my views on the subject”.
As Republicans and Democrats gird for a showdown over when and with whom to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the political question is which party will benefit from the battle.
“They’re threatening to abandon the Senate’s responsibilities”, Reid said on response on Tuesday.
Obama later claimed he regretted filibustering Justice Alito’s nomination.
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“I think we should not confirm someone this year, I think we should let the people weigh in”, said Sen.
