Obama Says No to ‘Moderate’ Supreme Court Nominee

“America needs Supreme Court justices who share Justice Scalia’s commitment to applying the Constitution as written and to the freedom it secures”. “Well, we are advising right now that a lame duck president is not going to get a Supreme Court confirmation in the final year of his presidency”. “The next president whoever he or she is will be the one making the nomination to fill this vacancy”.

Obama pushed back, using Scalia’s own legal philosophy of interpreting the Constitution strictly as written against the Republicans who revere the late conservative justice.

Within hours of Scalia’s death Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would block consideration of any Obama high-court nominee, a position quickly backed by a number of Republican senators who say the president should wait and allow the next president to make the selection.

The vacant Supreme Court seat is at the center of the political discussion, particularly involving the 2016 presidential election. Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley suggested he might be open to considering Obama’s yet-to-be named nominee, an indication his party may be sensitive to Democrats’ escalating charges of unchecked obstructionism. The Senate must confirm any nominee.

President Obama hosted a press conference at the U.S.-Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in California yesterday, which comes against a backdrop in which the future of the Supreme Court is dominating much of the domestic political conversation.

Former President George W. Bush attended the funeral for Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the Senate should hold hearings on an Obama nominee. Sen.

Certain pundits speculate Obama will attempt to nominate a judge that Senate Republicans have already confirmed to the circuit courts. While President Barack Obama has publicly expressed his intentions to nominate a new judge soon, Senate Republicans argue that a new judge should not be nominated until after the November presidential elections. But Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid predicted Republicans would “cave in”.

“I don’t think Chuck Grassley or Senator McConnell are saying no process whatsoever”, Johnson said. He added: “The American people are going to make them pay if they jerk the President around on this”.

Four out of the past seven funerals for a Supreme Court justice have either had the president or vice president in attendance.

Obama said he would settle on a nominee within the next several weeks and would “nominate in due time a very well-qualified candidate” to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative fixture on the high court who was found dead on Saturday. In addition, Republicans risk looking disrespectful to that nominee, potentially offending that same voting bloc. There’s also the matter of the election to choose President Obama’s successor.

“Part of the problem we have here is that we’ve nearly become accustomed to how obstructionist the Senate has become to pending nominations”, he said.

Mason: Thank you, Mr. President. In the past, lawmakers have sometimes informally agreed to stop holding hearings on lower court nominations during campaign season.