It’s called a recess appointment, and we know enough about President Barack Obama to know he’ll use it to fill the Supreme Court vacancy (left by Antonin Scalia’s death), in the teeth of Republican opposition.
Over to professor Jonathan Turley:
… Faced with a refusal of the Republican senators to move forward with a nominee for the court in the last year of the Obama Administration, President Obama could use the nuclear option: a recess appointment to the Supreme Court.
Under Article II of the U.S. Constitution a president is allowed to temporarily fill vacancies that “may happen during the Recess of the Senate.” I have long been a critic of recess appointments to the judiciary. While far less common than appointments to the Executive Branch, such appointments have occurred historically (including 12 to the Supreme Court).Yet judicial recess appointments undermine the integrity of the courts by using the equivalent of a judicial temp for a position that was meant to be held by a jurist with lifetime tenure.
The framers wanted a president and the Senate to come to an accord on such appointments, including the need to compromise to achieve such goals. Obama, however, made it clear years ago that he was willing to go it alone when Congress failed to give him legislation or confirmations that he demanded. His unilateral actions have already produced a constitutional crisis over the fundamental guarantees of the separation of powers. This includes a unanimous 2014 decision of the Supreme Court that Obama violated the recess appointments clause in his circumvention of the Senate. …
Meanwhile, Republicans prepare to cave:
If GOPer #ThomTillis is not careful, he'll lose his seat. Has he not noticed constituents have had it w/his ilk? https://t.co/rOxDkSN3ND
— Ilana Mercer (@IlanaMercer) February 17, 2016
BACKGROUND:
Amazing. #BarackObama, who's NOT, never was, a constitutional scholar, compared on MSNBC to #Scalia who was. https://t.co/4SKaeIxoYD
— Ilana Mercer (@IlanaMercer) February 19, 2016
If #MitchMcConnell & his Senate know what's good for them; they'll reject any #Obama push to fill SCOTUS vacancy. https://t.co/pI6w5pxPV2
— Ilana Mercer (@IlanaMercer) February 14, 2016
#Obama appointed #SoniaSotomayor & #ElenaKagan to the #SCOTUS. Bush gave us #JohnRoberts who begot #ObamaCare. No more rogues in robes!
— Ilana Mercer (@IlanaMercer) February 14, 2016
#JusticeScalia's been dead a few hours but #Obama has already put patsy Republicans on notice about their obligation to fill vacancy.
— Ilana Mercer (@IlanaMercer) February 14, 2016
#HarryReid has begun to admonish/shame Republicans into filling #Scalia vacancy. Watch #MitchMcConnell & gang cave. https://t.co/nuMEMCGnSd
— Ilana Mercer (@IlanaMercer) February 14, 2016
OBAMA’S BACKGROUND:
More debunking of the “Obama is brilliant” narrative. He was never a constitutional scholar, a con law professor, or even a top law student.
And his vaunted aloofness is not due to being intelligent and bored- it’s due to being out of his league.
He is, and was, an empty suit. A complete cipher in 2008, thanks to a compliant media in the tank for him.
Note also Obama’s pseudo-intellectual interest in phony theories like Alinsky’s “Power Analysis.”
UPDATE (2/24):
Democrats try a tactical ploy to force GOP to consider their #SCOTUS nominee: a moderate Hispanic Republican. https://t.co/GcrvFlhIwu
— Ilana Mercer (@IlanaMercer) February 24, 2016