Can you guess what that one thing, which is pretty big, is?
(Reuters) U.S. President Barack Obama will press Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, despite Republican vows to not to act on anyone he nominates.
Obama is slated to speak at 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 GMT) with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican head of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley at the White House.
Doesn’t he have to actually nominate someone, first? It’s a rather necessary component in the process.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday that Obama was committed to having a serious discussion with the lawmakers about his “constitutional responsibility” to appoint a successor to Scalia and how he would like to see the process play out.
“We’ll have to see if Republicans are also committed to that kind of serious conversation,” Earnest told reporters at a briefing. “Maybe they won’t be, and if they aren’t, then maybe it will be a shorter-than-expected meeting.”
I hope McConnell and Grassley realize this is, most likely, a setup. Rarely does Obama bother talking with people in Congress, even those in his own party, and, when he does, it tends to be a set up, in one form or another. They should simply tell Obama to go ahead and nominate someone, and leave it at that.
Oh, and if he fails to show up on time, they should walk out.
Teach
No he doesn’t have to nominate anyone “first” especially since the GOP has already said they will not consider anyone.
1/3 of all US POTUS have nominated people for hrte SCOTUS in their last year, but of course that was never done in the past with a Black POTUS so this is a special case
If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, then Hillary Clinton becomes the next President. If President Obama tries to nominate someone who might pass muster with the GOP, they might as well confirm him, ’cause he won’t be any worse than anyone Hillary Clinton nominates.
William whines that Obama won’t talk to the obstructionist Repubs, then has a hissy fit when he does talk to the obstructionist Repubs!