Obama to pay respects at court, won’t attend Scalia funeral

A key Republican is leaving the door open to taking the first step.

The 2014 Supreme Court decision, National Relations Board v. Canning, struck down three of Obama’s appointments to the NLRB that were made during a three-day break between pro forma sessions of the Senate. He chidingly told the Senate he expects “them to do their job as well”.

Fallout from Scalia’s unexpected death overshadowed Obama’s two days of summitry with Southeast Asian leaders.

Yet there were hints that at least some Republicans might come around. I mean, we – Clarence Thomas had a close vote, but certainly less than 60 votes in the Senate. we’ve had a lot of nominees, less than 60. i think what we have to do is stop looking at some of these things, the Republicans are talking about the Republican playbook, not what the country needs, but what the Republican playbook says.

Republicans nearly universally say that Obama’s nominee will be blocked, but the debate is squarely over how and when.

Johnson, a University political science and law professor, said he sees Klobuchar as a viable choice.

Court officials said Scalia’s body will lie in repose on Friday in the Supreme Court’s Great Hall, after a private ceremony. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has suggested that the Senate won’t even consider any nomination, saying it should be left to the next president to decide. In the past, lawmakers have sometimes informally agreed to halt hearings on lower court nominations during campaign season. Obama said the court needed to “provide some check on the executive branch, and he has not shown himself willing to do that repeatedly”.

The party’s strategy isn’t yet fully formed and won’t be until GOP senators return to Washington next week.

“As the president alluded to yesterday, he regrets the vote he made because…Democrats should have been a position in which they were making a public case; that’s what Democrats should have done”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, according to The Washington Examiner.

It’s unclear how long it will take for Obama to put forward a name.

But Earnest insisted Wednesday that Obama’s beef with Alito was different than Republicans’ current plan to block to Obama’s nominee. He said he’d pick someone that would pass muster for honor and integrity even among ideological opponents.

McConnell now says, “The American people should have a voice in naming the next Supreme Court justice”.