President Obama is imploring the Senate to take up his forthcoming nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court — a decade after he himself sought to block the nomination of Samuel Alito under President George W. Bush.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. (2006):
“When it comes to how checks and balances in our system are supposed to operate, the balance of power between the executive branch, Congress, and the judiciary, Judge Alito consistently sides with the notion that a president should not be constrained by either congressional acts or the check of the judiciary. He believes in the overarching power of the president to engage in whatever policies the president deems to be appropriate.”
President Barack Obama (2016):
“This has become just one more extension of politics. And there are times where folks are in the Senate and they’re thinking, as I just described, primarily about, is this going to cause me problems in a primary? Is this going to cause me problems with supporters of mine? And so people take strategic decisions. I understand that. But what is also true is Justice Alito is on the bench right now. I think that, historically, if you look at it, regardless of what votes particular senators have taken, there’s been a basic consensus, a basic understanding, that the Supreme Court is different.”
