Obama has duty to make Supreme Court nomination

For the past several years, Republicans in Congress, including Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, have accused President Barack Obama of shredding the Constitution by his actions. Indeed, some Republicans have gone so far as to call for Obama’s impeachment.

This line of attack has served to rally the GOP majorities in the Senate and House against any initiatives from the White House that run contrary to their conservative agendas.

But now, these same Republicans in Congress, including Portman, are demanding that Obama ignore the Constitution with regard to one of the most important duties of a president: the nomination of federal judges, including those for the U.S. Supreme Court.

The unexpected death a week ago Saturday of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who was the guardian of the court’s conservative wing, has turned the Republican- controlled Congress into a partisan political battleground.

Republicans cannot fathom the idea of a liberal Democratic president naming a successor to Scalia and, perhaps, changing the ideological makeup of the court. As things now stand, there are four conservatives and four liberals on the bench.

Thus, the backtracking from Republicans on Capitol Hill with regard to Obama’s constitutional powers to make judicial appointments.

Here’s what Portman had to say in a blatant attempt to defuse a public battle over the Senate’s constitutional mandate to advise and consent on judicial appointments:

“We are in the midst of a presidential election and a vigorous debate within both political parties on the direction of the country, with the election less than nine months away,” Portman said. “I believe the best thing for the country is to trust the American people to weigh in on who should make a lifetime appointment that could reshape the Supreme Court for generations.”

It should come as no surprise that Portman’s position is the same as the one taken by the GOP in Congress and the candidates for the Republican nomination for president, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

DEMOCRATS STAND UNITED

On the other hand, Democrats on Capitol Hill and on the presidential campaign trail are of one mind that President Obama is serving a four-year term and, therefore, must perform all the duties of his office as spelled out in the Constitution.

Indeed, Obama waded into debate over Scalia’s successor with a scathing attack on those who want him to take a pass.

“There’s no unwritten law that says that it can only be done in off years. That’s not in the constitutional text,” the president said. “I’m amused when I hear people who claim to be strict interpreters of the Constitution suddenly reading into it a whole series of propositions that aren’t there. There’s more than enough time for the Senate to consider in a thoughtful way the record of a nominee that I present and to make a decision.”

But that is exactly why Republicans in the Senate don’t want Obama to perform one of his main constitutional duties, the appointment of federal judges.

They know that if a nomination is sent to the Senate, the American people will expect senators to “advise and consent.” In 2012, President Obama won re-election by 5 million votes over Republican nominee Mitt Romney, and those who supported him had every expectation that he would serve the entire four years of his second term and not sit on the sidelines.

Republicans have made no secret of the fact that they consider him a lame duck and, therefore, should disabuse himself of the notion that any initiatives of substance will be considered this year.

But, in the matter of naming a possible successor to Justice Scalia, the president holds all the cards and should not throw in his hand.

That said, we do urge Obama to name someone who is already serving on the federal bench and, thus, has been through the Senate confirmation process. There is an impressive list of such candidates, including several who received unanimous Senate support.

Indeed, it would spotlight the hypocrisy of Republicans if the president nominated a sitting judge who had received high praise from the GOP leadership during his or her confirmation hearings.

The bottom line is that Sen. Portman and his colleagues in the majority are trying to find an easy way out of this politically explosive situation. The American people expect them to do what’s in the best interest of the nation.