President Obama has Constitutional Right to make SCOTUS Justice Recommendation
The recent death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has sparked a huge legal battle in the country right now.
With his passing, a lot of Senate Republicans are saying they would like to wait until a new President is elected to decide the new justice. Senate Republicans have once again made it their priority to usurp the authority of the President once more.
It’s disrespectful to the seat of the President of the United States. Their main excuse to try to block President Obama from filling Scalia’s seat is because he’s about to be out of office within the next few months.
President Obama still has eleven months in office, from now through January 20, 2017. That’s a lot of time left in his term. Other Presidents have appointed Justices with less time left in office.
As the sitting U.S. President, President Obama has the constitutional right to make a recommendation to Congress.
The POTUS has had the responsibility to appoint a Justice to the Supreme Court every time — and any time — there is a vacancy on the bench. Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution — known as the Appointments Clause — is unambiguous about these roles and responsibilities:
President Obama shouldn’t have to leave the decision to the next administration. The opposition is just another stall tactic Congress is using. They’ve been doing this throughout the President’s term.
They did the same thing when he nominated Loretta Lynch as the U.S. Attorney General. Congress held her nomination the longest ever in the history of nominations. It took five months for Lynch to be named Attorney General.
It further shows the contempt and disdain they have for President Obama. A replacement needs to be named quickly. There are too many important cases with very critical issues left on the table: abortion, affirmative action, the livelihood of public sector unions and President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
There are highly qualified potential nominees:
D.C. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan
U.S. Circuit Judge Paul J. Watford
U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Patricia Ann Millett
U.S. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Merrick Garland
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch
Scalia died February 13, in his sleep. At 79-years-old, he served almost 30 years on the Court. He spent most of his time fighting against affirmative action.
Out of eight members of the Supreme Court, it’s a 4-4 split between conservatives and liberals. President Obama’s decision would make the Supreme Court a liberal court. Currently, in the case of a tie, we won’t have a ruling.
These decisions will shape America for years to come. It’s important Senate Republicans to put their ulterior motives aside and let the President nominate a new Supreme Court justice. It’s important that after 30 years we need to see change. Or Americans will suffer.
