http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/obama-shortlist-new-supreme-court-justice-article-1.2530851Following death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, here's President Obama's short list for his replacement
BY Laura Bult
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Saturday, February 13, 2016, 9:08 PM
After the sudden death of conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, President Obama has the opportunity to move the country’s highest court toward the left by tapping a more liberal-leaning successor.
Immediately after news of Scalia's death broke, diverse options for the top job were being floated along with a debate online among Senate leaders about whether lame duck Obama should be the one to nominate the next justice.
"The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Saturday in a statement.
"Therefore this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) quickly fired back saying that "it would be unprecedented in recent history for the Supreme Court to go a year with a vacant seat."
"Failing to fill this vacancy would be a shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential Constitutional responsibilities."
Legal experts think Republicans might block an Obama appointee until he's out of office, leaving the court with a gaping vacant seat for nearly a year.
"I think Republicans will make every effort to block the nomination," Stephen Wermiel, Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law told the Daily News. "Even to the point of shedding blood in the aisles of the Senate if they have to."
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