Please disable your Ad Blocker to better interact with this website.

Jannah Theme License is not validated, Go to the theme options page to validate the license, You need a single license for each domain name.
NewsVideo

Can Obama Appoint a New Supreme Court Justice in an Election Year?

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

As the nation mourns the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died over the weekend of natural causes, the politicos are already looking ahead to debate whether or not President Obama will be able to pick his replacement on the bench during an election year.

Politico has already begun speculating his short-list of potential nominees, including: D.C. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan, Paul Watford, Patricia Ann Millett, Merrick Garland, and US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

But can -and should- Obama pick Scalia’s replacement when he’s got one foot out the door of the Oval Office?

Fox News explains the dilemma:

The Constitution gives the Senate “advice and consent” powers over a presidential nomination to the Supreme Court. Ted Cruz, one of the two GOP senators running for president, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the GOP-controlled Senate would be doing its job by blocking a nomination by a president with less than a year left in office.

“We’re advising that a lame-duck president in an election year is not going to be able to tip the balance of the Supreme Court,” Cruz said. But the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would hold hearings on a nominee, said it would be “sheer dereliction of duty for the Senate not to have a hearing, not to have a vote.”

Now here’s where it gets interesting…. While Senate Democrats insist Obama has a constitutional obligation to pick a replacement, they were arguing against this very same point in 1960. In fact, it was Senate Democrats who passed a resolution against election year Supreme Court appointments.

According to the Washington Post:

[I]n August 1960, the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a resolution, S.RES. 334, “Expressing the sense of the Senate that the president should not make recess appointments to the Supreme Court, except to prevent or end a breakdown in the administration of the Court’s business.” Each of President Eisenhower’s SCOTUS appointments had initially been a recess appointment who was later confirmed by the Senate, and the Democrats were apparently concerned that Ike would try to fill any last-minute vacancy that might arise with a recess appointment. Not surprisingly, the Republicans objected, insisting that the Court should have a full complement of Justices at all times. Of course, the partisan arguments will be exactly the opposite this time.

Woops. I guess Democrats only like to follow the law, when the law follows their ideological agenda.

As if it were even possible, the stakes just got even higher for the 2016 election.

Deneen Borelli

Deneen Borelli is the author of Blacklash: How Obama and the Left are Driving Americans to the Government Plantation. Deneen is a contributor with Newsmax Broadcasting. She is a former Fox News contributor and has appeared regularly on “Hannity,” “Fox & Friends,” “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” and “America’s Newsroom.” She has also appeared on Fox Business Network programs “Making Money with Charles Payne,” “The Evening Edit with Liz MacDonald,” and “Cavuto: Coast to Coast.” Previously, Deneen appeared on MSNBC, CNN, the BBC and C-SPAN. In addition to television, Deneen co-hosted radio programs on the SiriusXM Patriot channel with her husband Tom. Recently, Deneen co-hosted the Reigniting Liberty podcast with Tom. Deneen is a frequent speaker at political events, including the FreedomWorks 9.12.2009 March on D.C. which drew a crowd estimated at over 800,000 people. Deneen is also an Ambassador with CloutHub.com, a social media platform that promotes free speech, and with the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) which advances policies that put Americans first. Deneen testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources in May 2011 and before the Ohio House Public Utilities Committee in December 2011. Previously, Deneen was a BlazeTV.com host, Outreach Director with FreedomWorks.org overseeing its Empower.org outreach program, a Project 21 Senior Fellow, and Manager of Media Relations with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Prior to joining CORE, Deneen worked at Philip Morris USA for 20 years. During her corporate career at Philip Morris she worked in various positions, her last as Project Management Coordinator in the Information Management department where she was responsible for the department’s mandated quality processes, communications, sales information and database management. Deneen began her Philip Morris career as a secretary and advanced to positions of increasing responsibilities. Deneen worked full-time and attended classes at night for 11 years to earn her B.A. in Managerial Marketing from Pace University, New York City. Deneen served on the Board of Trustees with The Opportunity Charter School in Harlem, New York. She appeared in educational videos for children, worked as a runway fashion model, and auditioned for television commercials. Her interests include ancient history, pistol target shooting, photography, and volunteering at her church. Deneen currently resides in Connecticut with her husband Tom.

Related Articles