Obama took a swipe at Republicans by saying he was amused to hear some in the party describe themselves as “strict interpreters” of the Constitution but dispute the idea that he has the right to get a hearing for a Supreme Court nominee.
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Republicans have accused Obama of hypocrisy for demanding that the GOP-controlled Senate vote on whomever he nominates, considering the tactics he employed to try to block Bush’s choice.
Scalia served for nearly three decades on the nation’s highest court, making his mark by advocating an “originalist” approach to the Constitution that limited protections to those specifically laid out in the document. “There are plenty of judges (who) are on high courts already who have had unanimous support of the Republicans”.
“I think we ought to be able to find a consensus candidate that meets that criteria”, Biden said during a taping of “The Rachel Maddow Show” in St. Paul, Minn. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said he is “absolutely” determined to filibuster any Supreme Court nominee put forward by Obama this year.
Biden, who presided over Supreme Court confirmation hearings while in the Senate, took issue with the notion that a Scalia replacement can’t be confirmed during Obama’s final year. And with Howard there, I told him, ‘Mr. Should the Supreme Court have a tie vote on a case, the lower court’s decision stands, according to McEowen. “I would wait until the nominee is made before I would make any decisions”, Iowa Republican Sen.
The White House has been looking for cracks in the Republican opposition as it deliberates on a nominee, and Grassley’s remarks to home-state reporters offered the first signs of hope.
She added, “That doesn’t necessarily mean that ends up in a vote” by the Senate to confirm the nominee.
“I understand the pressure the stakes … there are a lot of Republican senators who are going to be under a lot of pressure from various special interests and various constituencies and many of their voters to not let any nominee go through, no matter who I nominate”, Obama said.
On Saturday, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden will attend Scalia’s funeral mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Earnest rebuked critics who he said “want to use the funeral of the Supreme Court justice as some sort of political cudgel”.
Now Obama himself is being accused of ill manners and worse for skipping Scalia’s funeral on February 20.
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The conventional wisdom at this point is that, while the Republicans in the Senate are indeed in a legal position simply to sit on any nomination from the White House from now until January 2017, they would be unwise to do so.
