Obama: No excuse for GOP not to vote on a court nominee

Benjamin Morris, a writer at FiveThirtyEight, ran a Google analysis and found that Scalia was the most-written-about Supreme Court justice in the last 15 years.

Justice Antonin Scalia will lie in repose at the Supreme Court on Friday, and President Obama will be among those paying respects.

Among those passing through the Great Hall were members of the federal appeals court on which Scalia served before joining the Supreme Court, including two judges mentioned as possible replacements.

Obama and other 23 Democrats failed to filibuster the nomination of Justice Samuel Alito.

Obama dismissed that notion, insisting he will put forward a replacement and believes the Senate will have “plenty of time” to give the nominee a fair hearing and a vote.

With a lifetime rating of 78 percent from the American Conservative Union, Gregg nevertheless voted for Obama’s nominations of Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

“There’s little upside to it”, said one senior GOP source who asked for anonymity to discuss party strategy. Wartbold, who is black, is a Harvard Law School classmate of Obama’s.

President Barack Obama gestures as he answers questions during a news conference following the conclusion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders summit at the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016. Just not important enough to, you know, go to the funeral. Chuck Schumer of NY and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, both of which called for blocking former President George W. Bush’s nominations – have slammed the GOP for its decision not to consider a nominee until after a new president is elected, Democrats have not always held that stance.

However, if the President decides to haul out a judicial retread who is likely to provoke more yawns than excitement, then chances are his nominee will be rejected on strictly partisan grounds. He said in 2006, “On controversial issues …we debate with each other and persuade each other and vote on it”.

Complicating matters, one of Poindexter’s companies reportedly received a favorable result from the Supreme Court a year ago; the manufacturing company was involved in an age discrimination lawsuit that the Supreme Court declined to hear.

“There are times where folks are in the Senate and they’re thinking … is this going to cause me problems in a primary?” Now, if Obama wants to consult with Senate Republicans and pick someone who passes muster with this Senate majority, perhaps that could be arranged. Like Ronald Reagan was to the presidency, so Justice Scalia was to the Supreme Court.