Among conservative Republicans, for example, 71% say the Senate should not hold hearings until the next president nominates a Supreme Court justice – and 51% say they would not change their minds depending on whom Obama nominates.
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Biden, who was serving as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, just wanted to be sure that the Senate was united in opposing any potential nominee, five months before Bill Clinton won the election and seven months before he was inaugurated.
-Strong majorities of voters- 58/35 in OH and 57/40 in Pennsylvania- think that the vacant seat on the Supreme Court should be filled this year. “The Founding Fathers never intended the Senate to simply run out the clock on its constitutional duties, subverting the president’s authority and leaving the judiciary in absolute limbo”. That is what is fair to the nominee and essential to the process.
The Kentucky Republican acknowledged that Obama is within his rights to nominate a replacement for the late Antonin Scalia but said Republicans controlling the Senate would exercise their rights.
“This Senate must do what he [Biden] said it must do in 1992”, Grassley added.
In recent years, the court has made key rulings on gay marriage, abortion and Mr Obama’s key healthcare legislation.
Senate rules are self-made for the smooth operation of the Senate and lack the force of law.
McConnell said Obama has the right to offer a nominee, and the Senate has “the right to withhold its consent”.
If the White House wants to fire back, it might point to Biden’s insistence that if a vacancy on the court arises in the summer or fall of an election year, the Senate should not act. Lisa Murkowski. She initially said that Obama’s nominee should receive a hearing, but later said Obama should hold off picking a nominee.
Democrats counter that the voters did have a say when they re-elected Obama in 2012.
Unfortunately, “it appears that the Republican leader and his colleagues have no intention of filling this important vacancy”, the Nevada Democrat said. That claim is demonstrably false, but conservatives are sticking with it in an attempt to justify their efforts to keep President Obama from naming the next Supreme Court justice.
“For my part, it’s clear that the president can send up a nominee – regardless of where he is before he leaves office”, Collins said in an interview with CNN.
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But Mr. Earnest said Mr. Biden also commented in 1992 that if Mr. Bush consulted with Congress about a Supreme Court nominee, the candidate might get serious consideration in the Senate.
