McConnell and the 11 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee had previously maintained that there will be no confirmation hearings for any nominee for the remainder of Obama’s presidency. She is an Obama appointee who was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to the appeals court position in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
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Today, People For the American Way released a new report examining the role of right-wing groups pushing GOP senators to refuse giving fair consideration to President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, no matter who the nominee may be.
Regardless of the procedural moves involved in handling the nomination, Americans are divided on how they’d prefer Scalia’s replacement to impact the Court’s ideological tilt.
Respondents were also split on whether Senate Republicans should be able to use procedures like a filibuster to block a potential nominee: 48 percent said it would be justified while 47 percent said it wouldn’t be justified.
Overall, 58% say they’d like to see the President nominate someone to the Court rather than leave the seat vacant until a new president takes office next year, 41% would prefer a vacancy.
WASHINGTON-President Barack Obama and Republican leaders on Tuesday remained deadlocked after a face-to-face meeting over when to fill a Supreme Court opening, making it unlikely a nominee could be approved until at least after the election.
“We welcome the opportunity to further discuss matters of mutual interest, like the drug epidemic that’s tearing communities apart across our country”, they said.
The two Republican senators sat together on one couch, while the Democratic senators sat a few feet away on another, but the gap between them in Tuesday’s meeting with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office could hardly have been bigger.
Obama called the senators and Vice President Joe Biden to the White House to take part in a consultation that he has determined was essential to his deliberations in choosing a successor for Scalia. McConnell has refused to budge on this point, and Republicans have largely united behind him, including Sen.
It is a constitutional duty of the president to nominate a candidate, and it is the Senate’s constitutional responsibility to act on the nomination by giving advice and consent. Apparently McConnell and Grassley declined, but the White House said the administration would continue begging consulting with Republican leadership and seriously consider any person suggested.
Third, they are pointing out that it’s the first time in modern history, dating back to 1916, that the Senate won’t be considering a Supreme Court nominee who is seeking a hearing.
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Voters worry more about economic and national security issues than the Supreme Court, Tom Ridge, former Republican governor of Pennsylvania, said in an interview.
