Araweelo News Network
Washington(ANN)The US Republican-led Senate has vowed not to confirm any Supreme Court nominee put forth by President Barack Obama, in an attempt to maintain control on the high court.
On Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would not hold a hearing or vote on any nominee to replace long-serving conservative Justice Antonin Scalia until after the next president takes office next January.
“This nomination will be determined by whoever wins the presidency in the fall,” McConnell said, adding that the overwhelming view of Senate Republicans was that “this vacancy should not be filled by this lame-duck president.”
This is while the White House and Senate Democrats slammed McConnell’s stance, with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid calling it “obstruction on steroids,” adding, “Gone are the days of levelheadedness and compromise.”
In remarks on the Senate floor, McConnell said, “Presidents have a right to nominate, just as the Senate has its constitutional right to provide or withhold consent. In this case, the Senate will withhold it.”
On February 13, Obama said it is within his “constitutional responsibilities” to name a replacement in “due time” and that the Senate must “give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote.”
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said blocking a hearing for Obama’s nominee would be unprecedented and would “subject the Supreme Court to the kind of politics that they’ve been insulated from for more than two centuries.”
“Since 1875, a president’s nominee has never been denied a hearing unless that president later withdrew that nomination,” Earnest added.
The death of conservative justice on February 13 abruptly changed the balance and Obama’s nominee could tilt the high court in a more liberal direction for the first time in decades.
The Supreme Court, where Scalia (pictured above) was a passionate conservative voice, has twice upheld major provisions of Obama’s Affordable Care Act and also legalized gay marriage in all 50 states.
A poll, conducted last year during Scalia’s 29th year as a justice, found that 32 percent of Americans are unaware of who Scalia is