President Barack Obama has accused Republicans in the Senate on Wednesday of putting the creditability of the Supreme Court at risk if they carry out their vow of not considering or voting on his nominee to replace the late Antonin Scalia the Supreme Court Justice who died a week ago.
Obama has promised to nominate his candidate regardless of the promises Senate Republicans made shortly after Scalia’s death. Obama promised to do his job, which is pick a replacement to fill the empty spot on the U.S. high court.
Obama, weighing in following a meeting in the Oval Office, acknowledged that the GOP was under massive pressure for their voter base to oppose the nominee.
However, he added that if the Republicans defy the U.S. Constitution through a snubbing of the nominee, the ability of any president in the future to select judges would be eroded even further.
Obama spoke about the Supreme Court vacancy following his meeting on Wednesday with King Abdullah II of Jordan.
The president added that at this time, not only will you see more and more vacancies and the court system breaking down, but also the Supreme Court’s creditability will begin to diminish due to it being viewed as just an extension of politics.
On Tuesday, Mitch McConnell the Senate Majority Leader and a Republican from Kentucky said his 54-member Senate GOP caucus was united in its stance against taking steps in the process of advice and consent by the Senate for a new justice.
He added that the Judiciary Committee would not hold any confirmation hearings for Obama’s nominee nor would the committee or the full Senate vote on the nominee.
However, Obama has said that once Senate Republicans have an actual nominee they are faced with and can examine this situation would evolve and opposition from the GOP might soften.
Obama added that he hoped the members of the Judiciary Committee would recognize the responsibility they have to give the nominee a hearing and then allow their conscience to dictate if they approve or deny the nominee.
At the end of the conversation with reporters, Obama said he did not expect any Republican caucus member to stick their head out at this point and say that.
However, let’s see, said Obama how the public will respond to the nominee I will be putting forward.
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