He said of the nation’s senators, “I expect them to do their job as well”.
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Conservatives have argued confirming a justice nominated by Obama would tilt the court to the left.
Shaheen thinks it’s unfortunate that the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has become so political so quickly.
Scalia’s sudden death on Saturday shook the political landscape, with Republicans in the Senate immediately calling for the decision over his replacement to fall to the next president.
White House aide Eric Schultz, asked if Obama had considered nominating Obama, noted that the president “has said he’s not interested in being a Supreme Court justice”, citing a New Yorker article by Jeffrey Toobin and a recent interview on Ellen.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the seat on the nation’s highest court should remain vacant until Mr Obama’s successor takes office in January so voters can have a say on the selection when they cast ballots in the November 8 presidential election. If he’s truly as risky and illegitimate a president as Republicans say, then this is their opportunity to get him out of the White House by putting him on the court. He said he wasn’t trying to block hearings or votes, as Republicans are now.
“There’s no unwritten law that says that it can only be done on off years”, he said. “I’m amused when I hear people who claim to be strict interpreters of the Constitution suddenly reading into it a whole series of propositions that aren’t there”.
In July 2007, Schumer said that except for “extraordinary circumstances”, the Senate should not approve any other Bush administration nominee to the Supreme Court.
McConnell argued that filling the vacancy should wait until the public will is tested in a new election.
“This would be a good moment for us to rise above that”, Obama said.
In a fundraising appeal, Ohio Democrat Ted Strickland said Portman “has a clear choice to make: He can look out for his party and D.C. special interests by holding back President Obama’s nominee, or he can do his job for the people of Ohio”. “Is this going to cause me problems with supporters of mine?'” he said. “There’s more than enough time for the Senate to consider in a thoughtful way the record of a nominee that I present and to make a decision”.
Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told home-state Radio Iowa on Tuesday morning that he would wait until a nomination is made before deciding whether to hold a confirmation hearing.
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A court statement said Scalia’s funeral Mass will be held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington on Saturday.
