Minnesota orders flags flown at half-staff to honor Scalia

He “will be remembered as one of the most consequential thinkers” on the Supreme Court, he said. “Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president”.

Rubio also said there is precedent for the president not to nominate, and the Senate not to act, on Supreme Court justices in an election year. The court normally has nine judges, and before his demise it had a conservative 5-4 majority.

Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara told WFAA-TV that Scalia died in his sleep, and the cause of death was determined to be a heart attack based on conversations with his physicians about his health when he died. The Senate returns from recess on February 22.

Despite the deep resistance, the White House was moving ahead but noted that Mr. Obama would not immediately announce his court choice. Democrats predicted that a backlash from the public, particularly in the swing states where Republicans need to win to hold on to control of the Senate, could eventually prompt reconsideration by Mr. McConnell.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead Saturday morning at the private residence in the Big Bend area of West Texas, after he’d gone to his room the night before and did not appear for breakfast, said Donna Sellers, speaking for the U.S. Marshals Service in Washington.

If there is a tie vote, as there may well be, the lower court ruling stands at least until a later decision, perhaps years away, says it doesn’t.

Historically, vacancies on the court haven’t lasted long, with a new justice being confirmed within about three months of the nomination.

In 1986, Ronald Reagan nominated Scalia to serve on the Supreme Court. History is also an unreliable guide as the nomination process has become significantly more politicized in recent years. And he is not going to allow the Senate to shirk its responsibility to confirm his nominee, and to do so promptly – before the November elections and before the president’s term ends in January. He said he didn’t know details about where the plane was headed. “I wanted to do yellow roses because for him dying in Texas”.

Had the Supreme Court ruled that union dues could not be used for political purposes, it would have dealt a major blow to one of the Democratic party’s most powerful assets.

“There will be plenty of time for me to do so, and for the Senate to fulfill its responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote”.

Political insiders and those close to the president are already tossing out names of a possible presidential appointee.

“It sounds like if Obama nominated the most staunch Republican in the nation, the Senate would reject him or her. I suspect that Obama may nominate someone who’s a little more moderate in the hopes that it can get through the Senate”, explained Schwartz.

Federal judicial nominees must be confirmed by the Senate, and Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell swiftly issued a statement saying, “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice”.

Feingold aligned himself with other Democrats, including presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen.