Senate Democratic leaders predicted there would be no filibuster of President Obama’s nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, but Republicans refused to rule out blocking a pick who they believe is outside the mainstream or undermines the Constitution.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of his party’s leadership who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told ABC’s “This Week” that “it’s just about a certainty that the president will nominate someone in the mainstream, so the likelihood of a filibuster is tiny.”
With 59 votes, Senate Democrats no longer have a filibuster-proof majority, but with the midterm elections looming, Republicans seem reluctant to engage in a drawn-out fight over a nominee, even though they now have the power to block one.
Appearing on the same program, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who is also on the Judiciary Committee, said, “It is unlikely that there would be a filibuster,” but he pointed to a bipartisan agreement between senators that allows for it “if there is an extraordinary circumstance,” and said, “I’m never going to take it off the table.”
President Obama is expected to soon name his pick to replace Stevens. His short list is said to include Solicitor General Elena Kagan, appeals court Judges Merrick Garland and Diane Wood, and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.
Obama said on Friday he will select a nominee “who, like Justice Stevens, knows that in a democracy, powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens.”
Obama’s pick must win the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee before facing a vote before the full Senate.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he expects a name soon “so we can wrap this up this summer” and a new justice can be in place by the start of the court’s fall term.
He appeared on the show with the committee’s top Republican, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who warned against Obama selecting a nominee like University of California at Berkeley School of Law professor Goodwin Liu. Obama has tapped Liu for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but Republicans say he is too liberal and are trying to delay his confirmation hearings so they can sift through 117 items Liu failed to include in his Senate questionnaire that they say underscore his liberalism.
“If it’s someone like that, clearly outside the mainstream, then I think every power should be utilized to protect the Constitution,” Sessions said, declining to rule out a filibuster. “I just think we’ll see how it plays out. It depends on the quality of the nominee.”
On “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said, “If the president picks someone from the fringe instead of from the middle, or if he picks someone who will apply their feelings instead of applying the law, then that might be an extraordinary case when I can’t vote for that nominee.”
