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President Barack Obama (2ndR), meets with Senate leaders and leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to discuss the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court in the Oval Office at the White House, February 1, 2016 in Washington, DC. Seated (L-R) are, Senate Judiciary ranking member Patrick Leahy, (D-VT), Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, (N-NV), US Vice President Joseph Biden, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, (R-IA).
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
On Tuesday, President Obama meet unsuccessfully with Republican leaders about choosing a nominee for the Supreme Court seat left vacant after Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13.
Obama, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid meet in the White House Oval Office for less than an hour, according to Reuters.
“Senator Grassley and I made it clear that we don’t intend to take up a nominee or to have a hearing,” McConnell told reporters after the meeting, Reuters reports.
Obama is expected to name a replacement in the coming weeks and but Republicans have been adamant that any selection made by the president wouldn’t be confirmed. Instead, Republican leaders believe that Obama should leave the nomination to the next president.
“They think they are going to wait and see what President Trump will do, I guess, as far as the nomination is concerned,” Reid told the New York Times, referring to Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner.
Reid noted that the president was willing to “consider candidates for the Supreme Court proposed by the Republicans, but McConnell and Grassley offered no names,” Reuters reports.
“Mr. Grassley and I made it clear that we don’t intend to take up a nominee or to have hearings,” McConnell said at a news conference at the Capitol, the Times reports. “We will look forward to the American people deciding who they want to make this appointment through their own vote.”
Read more at Reuters and New York Times.
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