Democratic Senate leaders have let loose a barrage of criticism of Republicans over their stance that Obama shouldn’t be allowed to nominate a third Supreme Court justice, keeping the seat vacant until a new president is elected. “Senator Cornyn has now taken the next step and suggested without knowing who this nominee is, without considering what their record is, what their experience is, how qualified they are for the job, he’s suggesting that they will be subjected to bashing by Republicans”. That committee is responsible for hearings to consider Supreme Court nominees.
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The survey found nearly unanimous awareness of the death of Justice Scalia, strong support for originalist intent in interpreting the Constitution, and concern over President Obama appointing a liberal justice who would tip the ideological balance of the court.
“There has never been a sit-down strike by the United States Senate and utter refusal to consider any nominee – until now”, he said.
President Barack Obama says he plans to select a contender, but so far has yet to do so.
That could pose a problem for the court’s work.
Conservative and liberal groups are only beginning their battle over the Supreme Court vacancy, with a smattering of television ads and behind-the-scenes research serving as warning shots in what’s sure to be an expensive fight that will color November’s elections. Scalia represented the best qualities of a Supreme Court Justice-he was fiercely intelligent, a passionate defender of the Constitution, and a man of uncompromising principle.
On the conservative side, One Nation – which runs ads and conducts polling and is headed by Steven Law, president of the Republican super PAC American Crossroads – will be “extremely active”, said spokesman Ian Prior.
Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, distributed the poll findings in a memo to members of the Republican Senate Conference to show public perceptions on filling the current Supreme Court vacancy, Politico reports. “Senate consideration of a nominee under these circumstances is not fair to the president, the nominee or to the Senate itself”, Grassley quoted Biden as saying, even referring to it as the “Biden rule” .
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley vigorously defended his vow to block hearings and votes on any Supreme Court nominee this year in a highly charged committee meeting Thursday. Yet, one GOP senator suggested that Republicans would be more willing to act if Obama were a Republican.
“So we’ll see how they operate once a nomination has been made”, he said.
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The late Justice Antonin Scalia, a Reagan court appointee who died last month, “served a quarter of a century after Ronald Reagan left the White House and ten years after Ronald Reagan died”. Ketanji Brown Jackson, a D.C. district court judge, is also under consideration, although a less likely option, said the source, who asked not to be identified because the person was not authorized to publicly discuss private White House deliberations.
