*You’re probably not going to be surprised to know that the Republicans are not in the mood to give President Obama the opportunity to nominate anyone to replace Supreme Court just Antonin Scalia who died unexpectedly on Saturday in Texas at the age of 79.
However, Mr Obama’s bottom line response to to the Republican leadership is not one they want to hear.
“I plan to fulfill my constitutional responsibility” to name Scalia successor.
The president then called on the U.S. Senate to give his eventual nominee “a fair hearing and a timely vote.”
“These are responsibilities I take seriously, as should everyone,” Obama said. “They’re bigger than any one party. They’re about our democracy.”
Obama remembered Scalia as a “larger-than-life presence on the bench.”
“He influenced a generation of judges, lawyers and students, and profoundly shaped the legal landscape,” Obama said. “He will no doubt be remembered as one of the most consequential judges and thinkers to serve on the Supreme Court.”
Here’s what the Huffington Post is reporting:
It took only a few minutes after news broke of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death on Saturday for conservatives to demand that Senate Republicans block any replacement nominated by President Barack Obama.
It took just a little while more for Republican leadership to agree with them.
In a swift statement designed to warn Barack Obama against even nominating a replacement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pledged to sit on his hands for the remaining 11 months of the president’s term.
“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice,” the statement read. “Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President.”
McConnell’s reaction makes it incredibly hard to envision Obama filling the Supreme Court vacancy created by Scalia’s death.
Get MORE at Huffington Post.
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