McConnell afterward said the Republican-led Senate, which must confirm any nominee, will refuse to consider any Obama selection to replace Scalia. But he said even Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat, had argued back in 1992 for postponing action on Supreme Court nominees during an election year.
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“Senate consideration of a nominee under these circumstances is not fair to the president, to the nominee, or to the Senate itself”, he continued.
“For my part, it’s clear that the President can send up a nominee – regardless of where he is before he leaves office”, Collins told CNN. “In this case, the Senate will withhold it”, McConnell said on the Senate floor.
Obama has the constitutional right to “fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session” in what’s known as a recess appointment.
“It’s wrong and the American people, I believe, will not stand for this”.
“I recently joined my good friend from Iowa, the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, in writing an opinion piece”.
He also called on the Senate not to schedule any confirmation hearings until after the election that year between incumbent President George H.W. Bush, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and independent candidate Ross Perot. “I don’t serve on that committee”, Ayotte said Monday regarding possible hearings. And he said Mr. Biden’s record on the committee was “hard to beat” for fairness.
Secondly, even if you were to claim that Biden were offering some new rule for blocking Supreme Court nominations, that rule wouldn’t cover the current situation. By a 76/20 spread in Pennsylvania and a 74/18 one in OH, voters think the Senate should wait to see who is nominated to the Court before deciding whether or not to confirm that person. “We know what the outcome is going to be”, Cornyn said. But Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also said there was a series of other qualified candidates.
This is just one volley in the war between President Obama and the Republican controlled Senate over when Scalia’s replacement should be nominated. He was referring to the unofficial principle that judicial nominees shouldn’t be confirmed in the lead-up to an election.
Sandoval, a moderate Republican and a former federal judge, was in town for a meeting of the National Governors Association.
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The latest on the battle between U.S. Senate Republicans and President Barack Obama over the naming of a nominee to fill the seat made vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. “This would be a historic and unprecedented acceleration of politicizing a branch of government”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said after the committee’s announcement.
