Justice Antonin Scalia Requiescat in pace.
Eternal rest, grant unto him, O Lord,
And let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.
"My heart breaks that America cannot take time to mourn with the
Scalia family," said Catherine Davis, president of the Restoration
Project. "Instead, we must turn, immediately, to the political—assessing
the ramifications of the death of this great jurist. We do pray with them,
however, for strength and peace as they navigate this new normal of life
without their husband, dad and grandfather."
COLD-HEARTED BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA THROWING HIS WEIGHT AROUND AGAIN…
Enemy within, BHO said today that he won't back down from a Supreme Court nomination battle brewing between his White House and Senate Republicans.
'The Constitution is pretty clear about what's supposed to happen now,' Obama said at a press conference as he outlined his role as the executive to put forth a name to replace deceased Associate Justice Antonin Scalia and U.S. senators' responsibility to confirm or deny that choice.
The president said, 'Historically this has not been viewed as a question. There's no unwritten law that says that it can only be done on off years. That's not in the Constitutional text.'
Obama wouldn't promise to nominate a 'moderate,' consensus candidate, telling a reporter not to 'assume anything about the qualifications' of the person he'll pick 'other than they're gonna be well-qualified!'
President Barack Obama said today that he won't back down from a Supreme Court nomination fight brewing between his White House and Senate Republicans
Senator Ted Cruz says there's no chance Obama will be able to fill the Supreme Court vacancy opened up by the untimely death of Scalia.
Cruz on Sunday told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that he 'absolutely' plans to filibuster an Obama nominee.
'This should be a decision for the people, George,' Cruz said. 'We've got an election. And, you know Democrats – I cannot wait to stand on that stage with Hillary Clinton or with Bernie Sanders and take the case to the people, what vision of the Supreme Court do you want?'
Cruz, like a majority of his Republican peers in both the Senate and the race for the White House, want the Senate to drag out any sort of nomination vote in case Republicans win the presidency and can replace the conservative Scalia with another conservative.
'Let the election decide it,' Cruz, a constitutional scholar who attended the same law school as Obama, said Sunday on This Week. 'If the Democrats want to replace this nominee, they need to win the election.'
Obama indirectly referenced Cruz today as he addressed questions about the fight with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans generally in the upper chamber.
'I'm amused when I hear people who claim to be strict interpreters of the Constitution suddenly reading into it a whole series of provisions that are not there,' he said.
Continuing, he said, 'There's more than enough time for the Senate to consider, in a thoughtful way, the record of a nominee that I present and to make a decision.'
Obama was also asked as part of a question what factors he'd consider when making a decision such as race and political positions.
CNN said in a report today that the president's team has already begun the vetting process and is working off a lists is began when he filled two other positions on the court and replaced Eric Holder in the attorney general's office.
The president is currently in Rancho Mirage, California, hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at Sunnylands resort and golf course.
He returns to Washington tonight.
By week's end his team will have nevertheless narrowed down its list of options to three or four names, CNN's source said.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who has held the role of top cop for less than a year after spending five as a U.S. Attorney's in New York, is considered a leading contender.
Obama had little to say today about the candidates he's considering.
'We're gonna find somebody who is an outstanding legal mind, somebody who cares deeply about our democracy and cares about rule of law,' he said.
'There's not gonna be any particular position on a particular issue that determines whether or not I nominate them.'
But he added, 'I am going to present somebody who indisputably is qualified for the seat and any fair-minded person, even somebody who disagreed with my politics, would say would serve with honor and integrity on the court.'
A reporter then asked if that means Obama is likely to select a moderate.
'No,' Obama interrupted him to say. 'I don't know where you found that.'
The president denied the possibility of a recess appointment and said of the Republican-controlled Senate, 'I expect them to hold hearings. I expect there to be a vote. Full stop.'
The president is currently in Rancho Mirage, California, hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at Sunnylands resort and golf course. He returns to Washington tonight. He took questions on his Supreme Court pick at a press conference today before his flight home
On Sunday ABC's Stephanopoulos pushed back on Cruz's claim the American people want the next president to pick a Supreme Court justice, not the current one, by bringing up Obama's re-election in 2012.
'That was three years ago,' Cruz, who clerked for the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist in the mid-90s, countered. 'The people also gave us a Republican Senate this last election because they were fed up with Barack Obama's lawlessness.'
The Republican presidential candidate also suggested that Scalia's passing changed 'the entire contours of this race.'
'The time for the circus and reality show is over,' Cruz said. 'This is a serious choice and we are talking about losing our basic liberty if we get this wrong.'
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