Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire McConnell: Don't Replace Scalia

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/269389-mcconnell-dont-replace-scalia-until-after-election

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia should not be replaced until after the presidential election.

Because McConnell sets the Senate schedule, and the upper chamber confirms Supreme Court nominations, his remarks signal the GOP's intent to not confirm any nominee offered by President Obama.

“The American people‎ should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice," he said in a statement. "Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President.”

Democrats have already called on the Senate to take a vote on a nominee replacing Scalia, who died Saturday in Texas.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said it would be "unprecedented" for the Senate to wait until next year to confirm a new justice.

He added that it would be a "shameful abdication" of the Senate's responsibility.

Here is McConnell's full statement:

"Today our country lost an unwavering champion of a timeless document that unites each of us as Americans.

"Justice Scalia's fidelity to the Constitution was rivaled only by the love of his family: his wife Maureen his nine children, and his many grandchildren. Through the sheer force of his intellect and his legendary wit, this giant of American jurisprudence almost singlehandedly revived an approach to constitutional interpretation that prioritized the text and original meaning‎ of the Constitution.

"Elaine and I send our deepest condolences to the entire Scalia family.

"The American people‎ should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President.”

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/fir...eme-court-nomination-disappointing/?_r=0

Hillary Clinton called Senator Mitch McConnell’s statement that the next president, not President Obama, should appoint a successor to Justice Scalia “disappointing” and “totally out of step with our history and our constitutional principle.”

Speaking at a Democratic fund-raising dinner in Denver, Mrs. Clinton denounced Republican presidential candidates and the Senate majority leader’s pledge to not allow Mr. Obama to replace Mr. Scalia, who passed away at a West Texas ranch on Saturday. “For any of us who needed a reminder of just how important it is to take back the U.S. Senate and hold onto the White House, just look at the Supreme Court,” Mrs. Clinton said.

“I know that our thoughts and prayers are with the Scalia family tonight and I am also thinking and praying for the future of our country,” she said. “It is outrageous that Republicans in the Senate and on the campaign trail have already pledged to block any replacement that President Obama nominates”

“Barack Obama is the president of the United States until Jan. 20, 2017,” she continued. “That is a fact, my friends, whether Republicans like it or not.”

She pointed to the longest successful confirmation process for a Supreme Court justice, the contentious, 100-day hearing in 1991 after President George H.W. Bush appointed Clarence Thomas. “There are 340 days until the next president takes office so that is plenty of time,” Mrs. Clinton said.

Mrs. Clinton rebuffed the argument by Republicans that a Supreme Court justice should not be appointed in an election year. “Okay, but the confirmation for Justice Kennedy took place in 1988,” she said. “That was an election year and he was confirmed 97 to nothing.”

Speaking as the Republican presidential debate unfolded on television, Mrs. Clinton did not mention her potential Republican rivals but she did single out Mr. McConnell, the Republican from Kentucky, calling his comments on Saturday evening “very disappointing and totally out of step with our history and constitutional principle.”

“Now, just a few minutes ago President Obama said he would nominate someone to the bench and that is exactly what he should be doing,” she said. “And leader McConnell should follow the constitutional process.”

"Should not" isn't taking a hard line.

If he would have publically committed to shooting down any nominee, it would have been better. By far.

Immense pressure now needs to be brought to bear on this man. This is now our immediate concern. He and ALL "R" Senators need be put on notice by every one of us. This is our wake up call and now it needs to be theirs...

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/antonin-scalia-replacement-219271


Obama's Supreme Court short list

The president has a chance to make a big statement with his pick to replace Scalia.

By Josh Gerstein

02/14/16 12:28 AM EST

Updated 02/14/16 06:58 AM EST
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The unexpected passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia immediately set lawyers and politicians talking about who would get the nod from President Barack Obama to fill Scalia's slot.

However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's vow to not confirm any nominee during the remainder of Obama's term creates an awkward dynamic around any potential pick.

Whoever is nominated will have to consider the possibility of being in limbo for a year or more, if the Senate fails to act during the election year. However, that person might also have a leg up on being nominated by Hillary Clinton, if she wins the nomination and the general election in November.

“It certainly is a lot for a person to take on to be the nominee in this heated political climate,” said Elizabeth Wydra of the liberal Constitutional Accountability Center.

Here are a look at some of the leading possibilities to be Obama's third nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court:

Sri Srinivasan

D.C. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan is perhaps the most attractive potential Supreme Court nominee for Obama if the goal is to put pressure on McConnell to allow a Senate confirmation vote. Nominated by Obama in June 2012, Srinivasan was confirmed in May 2013 by a unanimous, 97-0 vote.

Democrats believe that unambiguous verdict on Srinivasan could make it awkward for McConnell to block a vote on his nomination.

A nomination of Srinivasan, 48, to the high court would make history: he was born in India and would be the first Indian-American Supreme Court justice.

Srinivasan is widely viewed as a moderate. He clerked for Republican-appointed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. In a speech last October, Srinivasan seemed to relish maintaining stability in the law. He suggested that fears he and three other Obama appointees would dramatically change the balance in the D.C. Circuit were overwrought.

Paul Watford

Watford is an Obama appointee on the 9th Circuit and has been repeatedly mentioned as a potential Obama Supreme Court nominee. He was confirmed in 2012, by a 61-34 vote.

Watford, who’s in his late 40s, spent a decade as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles. Regarded as a moderate appointee, he was also a clerk to influential 9th Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. His list of judicial rulings is still fairly short, which can be an advantage in confirmation battles. Watford is African-American.

Patricia Ann Millett

Millett, 52, sits on the D.C. Circuit and is part of a slate of three nominees Obama put forward for that court in 2013. Those nominations triggered Republican threats of a filibuster and led Democrats to deploy the so-called nuclear option, changing Senate rules to prevent filibusters on judicial nominees below the Supreme Court level.

After considerable parliamentary maneuvering, Millett was confirmed by a 56-38 vote in December 2013.
20160216_Primus_Scalia_Getty.jpg

On The Bench
Why the Court Will Lean Left Even Without a Scalia Replacement

By Richard Primus

Millett spent more than a decade as a Supreme Court litigator in the Solicitor General’s office at the Justice Department. She later chaired Akin Gump’s Supreme Court practice along with Tom Goldstein, founder of SCOTUSBlog, and sometimes contributed to that site.

Merrick Garland

Garland is a politically savvy Clinton appointee on the D.C. Circuit who has long been discussed as a potential Supreme Court nominee. He’s well respected by lawyers and lawmakers in both parties.

However, Garland’s now 63, making him a decade older than a typical Supreme Court nominee in the modern era.

Loretta Lynch

Loretta Lynch, 56, has served as Obama’s attorney general for less than a year, after her nomination got caught up in partisan wrangling in the Senate. Senators on both sides agreed that the disputes had little to do with her and she doesn’t seem to have engendered the same anger from the GOP that her predecessor, Eric Holder, produced.

Lynch did stints as the top federal prosecutor in the Brooklyn-based Eastern District of New York during the Clinton administration and under Obama. Nominating her could complicate her efforts to run the Justice Department since all her decisions as attorney general could be seen as opportunities to either advance or set back her nomination. She would also make history as the first African-American woman nominated to the Supreme Court.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/antonin-scalia-replacement-219271#ixzz40A7kNk7Y

It's a year. They can't stall that long. They've got a majority. Hold hearings and then go to an up or down vote. Vote no. Then let him put another up and do the same thing. They've got the majority let him put a fascist judge up and vote them down.

Stall them in committee.

I hope he begins with Holder.

That should be fun.

The can drag it out until after the election. I am sure that whoever gets nominated will have some controversial decisions that can be mulled over.

Bork 'em!

Its all about the math people. 46 Senate Dems need 14 Senate Repubs. to side with them . 14 seems to be a little too many - even for the RINOS amongst them.
The democrat wheels of power and working overnight, you can bet on it!

If the republicans allow Obama to put another justice on the supreme court then they might as well all pack up and go home. Picking Scalia's successor is arguably as important as the presidential election itself, maybe more so. Obama must not be allowed to pick another justice.

McConnell single handedly has the power to deny a confirmation hearing on an Obama pick. All he has to do is say no, he's already outlined the reasons and they're valid. So far in dealing with Obama he's exhibited the spinal strength of an overcooked piece of linguine so I don't have much faith in him. If he can't grow a spine and shut down an Obama nominee then he needs to be ran out of town on a rail.

The Senate won't fail us out of necessity and survival. They know that if they do, they're playing right into Trump's platform attacks against both our Houses.

The dems will never get the 60 they need to stop cloture anyways.

Well, there is always another shot at the "recess appointment" angle.

Appoint someone for a few months and destroy any hope of a legacy whatsoever?

I seriously doubt it. The Senate will end the recess, if push comes to shove.

Obama will not get this through during his term.

Obama knows it, too.

You have a lot more faith in the idiots than I do. I'm afraid if they can possibly [bleep] it up, they will.

Obama would have to attempt a recess appointment between now and 12 noon on Feb 22.

Good luck with that. Appointing a Justice by recess appointment who would be out of work come Jan 3rd, 2017?

Seriously doubt it.

Not a thing you can do about it either. Other than to believe in the Constitutional laws that Bob and others have pointed out.

Further there's not a damn thing Obama can do unless Senate goes into recess and even then it would only be a temporary appointment. BUT if the GOP screws this one up then the party is dead and we know it.

If O does something between now and the 22nd then the Dem party is dead. So is the country.

The great Judge is not even in his grave yet and this chit is taking place.

But...but...but that's not DOING anything. That's just stopping progress.

I do believe that Cruz would stop everything he is doing and go filibuster a potential Feb 22nd mistake.

Which BTW would likely win him this election.

He hasn't missed anything that matters yet.