Gov. Paul LePage, R-Maine, says President Obama should pick someone to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the late Antonin Scalia, going against the prevailing Republican effort to stonewall the nomination process until the next president is elected.
Dubbing himself a “constitutionalist,” LePage said that “if it’s in the Constitution, I think it means something,” according to a report from the Maine Sun Journal published Thursday.
His position does not align with the majority of Republicans, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who have called on Obama to wait until the next president takes office next year. But it does match that of fellow Maine politicians.
“The framers were perfectly clear on two points: The president’s term is four years, not three years and one month, and the president ‘shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint … judges of the Supreme Court,” wrote Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, in a press release. “To delay the consideration of a nomination for almost a full year would be nothing more than the cynical politics that people in Maine and across the country are tired of.”
“I was sent here to do a job, and if the president nominates someone, then I hope I’ll have the opportunity to give them the proper merit-based consideration that is due to such a significant position,” King added.
According to the Maine Sun Journal’s report, the state’s other U.S. senator, Republican Susan Collins, said if Obama were to nominate a replacement for Scalia, “I will give the nominee my full attention and I will carefully vet him or her the way that I always do.”
On how the whole nomination process will play out, LePage said, “I have no clue what the federal government is going to do,” adding that he felt the same way about his appointee for the state Supreme Court.
