Obama to nominate Scalia successor ‘in due time’

“Please join us and the candidates on stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia”, CBS moderator John Dickerson said.

According to a source close to Scalia’s family, the senior associate judge died in his sleep Saturday after a day of hunting at a ranch outside the western city of Marfa, in the USA state of Texas.

The first Italian-American to sit on the country’s highest court, Scalia, 79, was the leading conservative voice on the court and his death was expected to set off a prolonged fight over who would succeed him.

The Senate is presently controlled by Republicans, and its leader, McConnell, made it clear earlier Saturday he did not want to see the seat filled “until we have a new president”.

The death of one justice could be the difference between whether polarizing issues related to abortion, gay marriage, affirmative action, the second amendment pass or fail.

The question of the next justice in an election year will heat up an already hot race to the presidency.

Conn Carroll, communications director for Utah Republican Mike Lee, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated it would be nearly impossible for Obama to successfully appoint a replacement for Scalia. As President Obama graciously eulogized Saturday afternoon, the late justice “dedicated his life to the cornerstone of our democracy: the rule of law”.

He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz tweeted that Justice Scalia was an American hero.

If cooler heads can prevail and an agreement can be reached, President Obama will appoint his third Supreme Court Justice.

He tells KXAN, “It was stunning news, a great loss for those of us who knew and loved him personally and for the country”.

“I plan to fulfill my constitutional responsibilities to nominate a successor in due time”, Obama said in California after a golf game with friends.

“We have a battle over the president and now we have a new battle superimposed over that for a nominee to the Supreme Court”, said MSU-Denver Professor of Political Science Norman Provizer.

“The Republicans in the Senate and on the campaign trail who are calling for Justice Scalia’s seat to remain vacant dishonor our Constitution”, she said. On a major issue, the high court would be likely to rehear the case once it had its full membership. “Failing to fill this vacancy would be a shameful abdication of one of the Senate’s most essential constitutional responsibilities”.

Srinivasan, who is forty-six years old, is now the Obama Administration’s principal deputy solicitor general.

For now, our preference is to remember the legacy Justice Scalia leaves.

He has the sort of impeccable credentials that are much beloved by the Supreme Court bar, though Srinivasan’s own views on the Constitution are more hard to discern.

It is highly unusual to consider a Supreme Court nomination in an election year, especially when the President isn’t on the ballot.