Appointing A Supreme Court Justice Will Be Problematic
Yes, the President has the right to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice. The Senate also has the right to approve or disapprove a new Supreme Court Justice. The Senate approves all appointments of federal judges.
It would seem reasonable that President Obama should be able to appoint a Justice to succeed Justice Scalia. He has been successful in getting approval for Justice Sotomayor and Justice Kagan. However, both of these appointments were approved by a Senate that had a Democratic Majority. This seems to be what the Constitution expects to happen when judicial vacancies occur.
It's an election year and the Republicans control the Senate. I doubt President Obama would appoint anybody as conservative as Justice Scalia. If there were a Republican in the White House and the Senate was controlled by the Democrats there would be a similar impasse. It is overwhelmingly likely that any proposed appointee would delayed. This tit for tat behavior seems to be the rule now and would have occurred earlier in President Obama's second term had a conservative member of the bench retired one way or another
Historically, it has been a long time since a Supreme Court Justice has been approved in the year prior to a presidential election.
It would seem reasonable that President Obama should be able to appoint a Justice to succeed Justice Scalia. He has been successful in getting approval for Justice Sotomayor and Justice Kagan. However, both of these appointments were approved by a Senate that had a Democratic Majority. This seems to be what the Constitution expects to happen when judicial vacancies occur.
It's an election year and the Republicans control the Senate. I doubt President Obama would appoint anybody as conservative as Justice Scalia. If there were a Republican in the White House and the Senate was controlled by the Democrats there would be a similar impasse. It is overwhelmingly likely that any proposed appointee would delayed. This tit for tat behavior seems to be the rule now and would have occurred earlier in President Obama's second term had a conservative member of the bench retired one way or another
Historically, it has been a long time since a Supreme Court Justice has been approved in the year prior to a presidential election.
According to the New York Times: Going through a Supreme Court confirmation battle in the middle of a presidential election has happened just five times in the past 100 years. The last one occurred in 1988.
That year, a
Democratic Senate confirmed President Ronald Reagan’s appointment of
Anthony M. Kennedy in a 97-0 vote. He was nominated on Nov. 30, 1987.
However, the issue is resolved there have been Supreme Court Justices confirmed in a fortnight but the last four Supreme Court Justices took much longer to confirm and they may seem speedy compared to the coming donnybrook.
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