Obama: Will name indisputably qualified nominee for court

Justice Antonin Scalia died Saturday and President Obama has said he will nominate a replacement so the Senate can conduct a “fair hearing” and hold a “timely vote”.

The president stated that position during a visit to Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Tuesday, where he attended meetings with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

While acknowledging the political stakes of a nomination and the pressure Republican senators were under in the election year, Obama said the Supreme Court nomination should come above partisan rivalry. “The Senate is to consider that nomination and either they disprove of that nominee, or that nominee is elevated to the Supreme Court”.

He added there is “more than enough time for the Senate to review the record of a nominee that I make”.

“We should have done everything we could to block Alito”, Schumer said.

Democratic leaders, including Obama and Democratic Party presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen.

Grassley is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and he and other Republicans have argued that a presidential election year isn’t the time for a new justice to be confirmed.

The Supreme Court nomination battle is putting control of the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court on the line this November. Obama gave no hints about his choice for the seat other than to say his nominee would be “indisputably qualified”.

President Obama, to conservatives’ chagrin, indicated on Saturday his intention of nominating someone for the high court before leaving office.

Grassley has offered mixed messages since Scalia’s death on how the Senate should proceed on the vacancy, alternating hardline views on blocking any nominee with comments not ruling out hearings. “This Republican Senate would be the first in history to abdicate that vital duty”. Zwillich says it is possible that the president will intentionally pick a moderate, centrist nominee-if he were to do so and Republicans blocked the nominee anyway, the party may wind up appearing radical and unreasonable.

“(It) has become a political tool”, he said. 18, 2015, President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the briefing room at the White House in Washington.

“Republican Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte – vulnerable incumbents – echoed McConnell, stressing the decision rests with the next president, especially since whoever is chosen could decide the tilt of the court for generations”.