The president and first lady Michelle Obama will pay their respects Friday afternoon at the Supreme Court where Scalia’s body lies in repose.
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In recent years, the sitting president has often – but not always – attended funerals of justices who died during his term. As Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) put it yesterday, the partisan blockade against any court nominee is meant to protect the institution from “politicization” and “denigration”.
Leahy said it would “diminish the country” and the Senate and set a unsafe precedent if Republican leaders refuse to allow hearings and a vote on a presidential nominee, leaving a vacancy on the nation’s highest court for more than a year. Ted Cruz, who are running for the Republican nomination for president, said Wednesday night during a CNN town hall in SC that they would not nominate replacements to the Supreme Court if they were in Obama’s position.
Just hours after Scalia’s death Saturday, McConnell, R-Ky., said Obama should leave the nomination for whoever is elected president in November.
Three other justices have retired from the court since Rehnquist’s death: Sandra Day O’Connor, Stephen Breyer and David Souter. The Kentucky senator joined several Republicans up for re-election in declaring that Obama should let voters in November weigh in on the direction of the court through their vote for president.
The White House has said Obama intends to do as the U.S. constitution requires and “move promptly” to nominate a successor.
Justice Scalia was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan and was the longest serving member on the court.
The White House said on Friday that Mr Obama has begun consulting with a “wide variety” of individuals regarding his search for a nominee.
Biden, in a radio interview airing Thursday, disagreed with Republicans who insist that Obama let that decision fall to the next president, who will take office next January.
“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice”.
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DeConcini believes if President Obama wants to pick a successful nominee it needs to be someone like Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval.
