http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/221248-obama-confident-he-could-replace-ginsburgOctober 20, 2014, 10:44 am
Obama confident he could replace Ginsburg
By Justin Sink
President Obama is confident he could get a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the Senate, because the intense media spotlight would prevent “shenanigans,” he said in an interview published Monday.
Obama was asked to respond to Ginsburg’s contention in a recent interview with Elle that, were she to resign this year, the president “could not successfully appoint anyone I would like to see in the Court.”
“Well, we’ve got a pretty good track record,” Obama told The New Yorker. “We’ve got a couple of Supreme Court Justices confirmed who I think are doing outstanding work.”
Obama suggested the high-profile nature of a Supreme Court fight meant he’d have better success with a nominee than with some appointments to less prominent positions.
“My sense is that the Senate necessarily has to treat the Supreme Court nomination process differently than the circuit- or district-court nomination process — higher profile, people are paying attention,” Obama said.
“They have the sense, ‘All right, this is big,’ ” and the media cover the story intensely, “which means that some of the shenanigans that were taking place in terms of blocking appointments, stalling appointments, I think are more difficult to pull off during a Supreme Court nomination process.”
Earlier this summer, a senior administration official told The Hill that the White House wasn't worried about filling a potential vacancy on the high court, saying it would be politically difficult for Republicans to hold up a vote on a qualified justice.
But a Supreme Court vacancy would be a major test for Obama, particularly if Republicans win the majority in the midterm elections.
Obama took pains to stress that he was not encouraging Ginsburg to retire.
“Justice Ginsburg is doing a wonderful job,” Obama said. “She is one of my favorite people. Life tenure means she gets to decide, not anybody else, when she chooses to go.”
Asked if he had advice to her about retirement, Obama reportedly replied with a smile, “none whatsoever.”
During a fundraiser in August, the president appeared to speculate that a retirement on the high court could be coming soon — although a White House official hastily said the president was merely speaking hypothetically.
Obama told donors that a faction within the Republican Party "thinks solely in terms of their own ideological purposes and solely in terms of 'how do they hang onto power?' And that's a problem. And that's why I need a Democratic Senate."
"Not to mention the fact that we're going to have Supreme Court appointments, and there are gonna be a whole host of issues that many people care about that are going to be determined" by whether Democrats control the Senate, Obama said.
In addition to the 81-year-old Ginsburg, many court watchers have suggested Stephen Breyer, 75, might be considering retirement before the end of Obama’s term.
