“And there’s no one on the Democratic side in the Senate better suited to the court than Minnesota’s senior senator”, the article stated.
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For a supreme court judge to be appointed, the president must nominate a candidate and then the US Senate – which has 100 senators – must vote them in by a supermajority, which is 60 out of the 100 votes available.
By Saturday evening, Reuters published a report on the potential Supreme Court justices the president might be considering to replace Scalia, some of whom already have the support of at least one conservative candidate running for president this year. The last justice to be approved by the Senate of the opposite party during an election year was Justice Anthony Kennedy in 1988. “I plan to fulfill my constitutional responsibilities to nominate a successor in due time”, he said.
Instead, the president would do so after the Senate returns from its recess February 22. “The court can try to go ahead, but on cases where they are split 4-4, their only options are to leave the lower court decision intact or to hold the case over until Justice Scalia’s replacement is confirmed”.
“If there’s not nine justices, it’s going to be hard to break ties and establish the law of the land in some of the most controversial issues”, said UC Davis Law School’s Dean Kevin R. Johnson, a prominent Supreme Court scholar. If Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were elected, either would feel emboldened to make a more liberal choice – and might have the backing of a new Democratic majority in the Senate. As a Supreme Court justice, Scalia was a strong supporter of the conservative originalism movement, which places a strong emphasis on the founders’ original intent when writing the Constitution. He argued that the Senate should vote on whoever Mr Obama nominates.
Obama could tilt the balance of the nation’s highest court, which now consists of four conservatives and four liberals, if he is successful in pushing his nominee through the confirmation process. However, the proponents of this idea seem to be forgetting that eight years ago, the American people made their voices heard by voting Obama to the presidency.
For his previous two Supreme Court picks, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the president took about 30 days each to announce his selection after their predecessors, Justice John Paul Stevens and Justice David Souter, respectively, said they planned to step down.
Republicans’ most likely first line of defence is the Senate Judiciary Committee, which considers the nominee before the full Senate.
The president also called on the Senate “to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote”.
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After the GOP debate, Cruz talked with Fox News, telling Brett Baier that if President Obama or a Democrat replaces Justice Scalia, “our most basic rights are in jeopardy: life, marriage, religious liberty, the Second Amendment”.
