White House won’t comment on Sandoval’s remarks

“Why would I? We’ve made the decision”, said Sen.

The sudden death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia set off an immediate debate about whether President Obama should be able to fill the vacant seat in an election year.

Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada last week suggested the next justice could be a Nevadan. “It’s truly remarkable how quick Republican candidates have been to oppose a Supreme Court nomination, and it’s especially concerning given the crisis we’re already facing in this country on abortion access”.

Sandoval’s name surfaced as a possible nominee on Wednesday, but Senate Republicans quickly said they still would not hold hearings or vote on any Obama nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the February 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the president is also hoping to meet with Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa.

Earlier on Thursday, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton expressed concern about the possibility of Sandoval being nominated, saying she wanted Obama to pick a “true progressive”.

Sandoval, 52, was appointed a judge by Republican President George W. Bush before becoming governor.

“I think it will be very hard for Mr. McConnell to explain, if the public concludes that this person is very well qualified, that the Senate should stand in the way simply for political reasons”, Obama told reporters in the Oval Office. Republican candidates advocate temporarily suspending the Constitution until after the coming election.

Added Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee: “They’ve taken an oath before God to do their job”. Sandoval’s mention was thought to be a way around Republican senators’ resistance to considering an Obama nominee.

Sandoval’s critics at home have more often come from the right than the left.

Sandoval also has been criticized for raising taxes and most recently declining to join Nevada’s Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt in a federal lawsuit challenging new USA regulations protecting the sage grouse. He has argued that negotiations with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and others in the Obama administration offer a better chance of easing land-use restrictions for Nevada ranchers, miners and others than a court battle.

“The mere rumors of his nomination brought swift pushback from a GOP so committed to obstructing the process and letting President Obama do his job that they don’t even want to let one of their own get a hearing”, NARAL’s Hogue said.

Which makes sense – clearly that check-and-balance right is in place so we don’t have risky fringe politicians thrust into such a lauded office: Someone needs to double-check, and be able to say “No”.

Limited to two terms, Sandoval’s final term as governor expires in early 2019. It seems unbelievable now, but only 39 days went by from Minton’s retirement announcement on September 7 – two months before that year’s election on November 6 – to Brennan taking his seat on the court on October 16, three weeks before the election.