"Republicans, for their part, are trying to box Obama into a compromise pick, all while maintaining their resistance to considering a nominee this year."

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COMMENTS: 
*  Republicans continue to prove themselves the dumbest animals on the planet.
*  Did Democrats refuse to consider the nominee of any Republican President?  Did Democrats leave a seat on the court vacant for 15 months?
*  Dems didn't refuse to even consider a nominee before he/she was named. ...
*  The trial balloon of Sandoval shows just how tricky it's going to be for Obama. If he nominates a progressive it's DOA. If he nominates a moderate he'll take substantial flak from the left. And he'll never nominate a conservative. No one who identifies as Republican is going to accept a nomination nor is anyone who has a real, legitimate ambition to serve on the Court. This is shaping up to be a cluster-f*** of epic proportions.
*  The average length of time for a modern Supreme Court confirmation process is 67 days. The president's current term has over 300 days remaining. There is no reason for obstructionism by Republicans other than petty unAmerican politics. They are dishonorable.
*  Americans already DID decide who should nominate the replacement for Scalia - when they elected President Obama for the SECOND TIME.
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Democrats escalate Supreme Court shame campaign
Sen. Leahy accuses GOP rivals of an ‘unrelenting and cynical campaign’ to delegitimize Obama.
By Sarah Wheaton, February 25, 2016

Democrats escalated their grievances against Republicans in the Supreme Court fight on Thursday, accusing rivals of being motivated by the same dark impulses that have driven continual efforts to delegitimize the president.

Even as they kept up the drumbeat against “obstructionist” Republicans who are refusing to consider any nominee in an election year, Democrats in the Senate and on the campaign trail sought to capitalize on their base’s long-simmering resentment at perceived race-related slights of President Barack Obama.

“Let’s be blunt,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Thursday. “Some of the pressure on the Senate to ignore its duty to fairly consider a nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy comes from the unending campaign outside the Senate to de-legitimize this President’s authority.”

Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that efforts to block any Obama nomination to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia stem from the same “unrelenting and cynical campaign” that began with the so-called “birther” movement that questioned Obama’s American citizenship.

The new line of argument came as Democrats lost a different political weapon on Thursday.  Nevada’s Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, whose name had been floated for a Supreme Court nod, said he wasn’t interested in the job.

Obama’s congressional allies also amplified their more established efforts to shame Senate Republicans who are refusing to entertain a nominee.

“We felt it was extremely important to make sure the American people understand that we have obstruction that is on steroids,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday afternoon, joined by more than a dozen other Democrats for 20 minutes of public GOP scolding in front of the high court.

“We want them to do their jobs,” Reid continued. “That’s all we ask.”

Democrats have been methodically building an argument this week that the GOP is in the wrong after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee members announced on Tuesday that they would not hold hearings on Obama’s forthcoming nominee, and probably wouldn’t even hold a private meeting with the person.

Scalia’s death earlier this month has injected a high-stakes showdown into an already intense political season. And as Democrats wait for Obama to name his nominee — a process that’s expected to take another few weeks — they are promising to spend that time reminding their base that Republicans are blocking their president’s mission.

It’s becoming a rallying point on the campaign trail, especially in the South. Bill Clinton’s call on Thursday for Obama to “do his job” and nominate a successor drew “Hallelujahs” from a crowd in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where the former president is stumping for Hillary Clinton ahead of the Democratic primary there on Saturday.

And Leahy gave voice to the whispers that have swirled around the lightning-fast Republican resistance to Obama’s right to name a nominee.

“Even before President Obama took office, and ever since then, there has been an unrelenting and cynical campaign by some hyper-partisans to de-legitimize this president’s authority,” Leahy said in his statement Thursday afternoon. “There were the birthers, and there have been and still are spurious slurs of all kinds. Outside of the Senate, the efforts to undermine President Obama’s constitutional authority to fill this Supreme Court vacancy draw some of this vehemence and venom from these dark corners.”

Republicans, however, are arguing that American voters deserve a voice on an appointment that could drive American jurisprudence for a generation. 

“That’s why my Republican Senate colleagues and I will exercise our constitutional authority to withhold consent on any Supreme Court nominee made by this president during a heated presidential campaign,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Judiciary Committee chairman, wrote in USA Today on Wednesday.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) responded with mockery targeted at a left-leaning sense of humor. “The Constitution also says that the president has a four-year term. And scientists tell us that there are almost 11 months left in the president’s second term,” he wrote on Facebook.

Democrats on the Hill had briefly rallied around a more consensus-oriented strategy, with some embracing the Sandoval trial balloon. Prior to his step back on Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters that it’s a “good idea for the president to consider a Republican, or a Democrat.”

Reid submitted his home-state governor’s name to the White House, according to a source familiar with the process, and news reports surfaced on Wednesday that he was being vetted — a move that helped Obama look open-minded and nonpartisan.

But by Thursday afternoon, the moderate Republican announced that he had taken himself out of the running.

“Earlier today, I notified the White House that I do not wish to be considered at this time for possible nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States,” Sandoval said in a statement. “I have also spoken to Senators Reid, [Dean] Heller and McConnell and expressed the same desire to them. The notion of being considered for a seat on the highest court in the land is beyond humbling and I am incredibly grateful to have been mentioned.”

But other prominent Democrats warned against the possibility of Obama offering a lifetime appointment to a Republican who has called Obamacare unconstitutional.

Hillary Clinton, who has faced sharp criticism from rival Bernie Sanders about her progressive credentials, questioned the wisdom of nominating someone like Sandoval. "I know the governor has done some good things,” Clinton said on Thursday, campaigning in South Carolina. “But I sure hope the president chooses a true progressive who will stand up for the values and the interests of the people of this country."

The progressive group Democracy for America threatened to mobilize its members against a Sandoval nomination, and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence blasted the Nevada governor as “unfit” for the Supreme Court based on his veto of background check legislation, as gun control has become a major issue in the Democratic primary.

Republicans, for their part, are trying to box Obama into a compromise pick, all while maintaining their resistance to considering a nominee this year. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) recounted his meeting with Obama on the sidelines of an unrelated White House gathering on Wednesday.

“He told me he’ll send somebody that’ll be moderate,” Hatch said. “And, we’ll wait and see. It will be interesting to see.”

White House press secretary Josh Earnest refused to confirm the details of the president’s conversation with Hatch, noting the lack of a “transcript,” and referred reporters to Obama’s recent post on SCOTUSblog about what he’s looking for in a nominee.

“Politics are going be part of” the confirmation process, Earnest acknowledged, “particularly in an election year.”

However, Earnest added, “’What political party do you support?’ will not be one of the questions” Obama asks a potential nominee.

The White House and Senate Republicans have managed to reach at least one point of consensus on the confirmation fight. Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue have been squabbling about scheduling an in-person meeting among the president, the top Senate leaders and the chairman and ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

“We’re pleased that after a number of conversations, some more awkward than others, that the president will be convening a meeting on Tuesday,” Earnest announced.

McConnell and Grassley confirmed their plans to attend.

“We look forward to reiterating to him directly that the American people will be heard and the next Supreme Court justice will be determined once the elections are complete and the next President has been sworn into office,” they said in a joint statement. “And we welcome the opportunity to further discuss matters of mutual interest, like the drug epidemic that’s tearing communities apart across our country.”
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