The meeting was the first time since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last month that Mr. Obama and Republican leaders have met in person to discuss the Supreme Court vacancy.
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“They said, ‘No, we are not going to do this at all, ‘” Reid said. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) – the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, which typically considers Supreme Court nominations – was also present. What they conveniently and deceptively fail to acknowledge is that the will of the people was expressed more recently in 2014 with the decisive election of a Republican majority to the U.S. Senate. “And you’d have to go back to 1888 when Grover Cleveland was in the White House to find the last time a vacancy created in a presidential year was confirmed by the party opposite the occupant of the White House”, he added.
President Obama this past week, announced that he “plans to offer his nominee for the Supreme Court to the Senate, and the Senate has more than enough time to confirm that nominee”. Reid said. “They have a constitutional duty to consider the president’s nominations for the Supreme Court, they took an oath swearing they would uphold the Constitution, they raised their hands, swore to God that they would do that”.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Sen.
Before heading to the meeting, McConnell made clear on the Senate floor that he wouldn’t budge.
Senator Harry Reid said the Republicans were “adamant” and would not welcome any nominees from Obama’s administration, says Reuters. As voters continue to cast ballots during this election, they will know that their vote will not only help to determine who gets the keys to the White House for the next four years, but also who will select our next lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. “It makes it hard for him to engage constructively, until they change that position”. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, a Democrat, defeated Bush for re-election that year. Biden said in a speech that the Senate should not act on a hypothetical high court nominee, on much the same grounds that the GOP is citing now.
“Never in the history of the country has anything like this happened”, Reid said.
It is also a constitutional right and responsibility of the sitting president to nominate individuals as potential replacements for the Senate, and I read nothing in the Constitution that states these responsibilities are negated during the final year of a president’s term.
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Information for this article was contributed by Kathleen Hennessey, Alan Fram and Donna Cassata of The Associated Press and by Mike Dorning, Billy House and Toluse Olorunnipa of Bloomberg News.
