Leahy has harsh words for GOP over Supreme Court vacancy

Sen. Patrick Leahy had harsh words on Monday for Senate Republicans who want to leave an open seat on the Supreme Court until the next president is sworn in.

“It would be totally irresponsible for us to wait that long,” said Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee that oversees the confirmation process.

President Barack Obama will step down on Jan. 20, 2017, giving him just over 11 months left in office.

Justice Scalia found dead at Texas ranch

Justice Antonin Scalia died suddenly over the weekend at a ranch in Texas. Scalia was appointed to the bench under Ronald Reagan and has been one of the most conservative justices to serve. President Obama said he plans to name a successor. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on Sunday he would filibuster any nominee the president puts forward.

Leahy said leaving the seat open for a year would look “foolish” to the rest of the world. The last time a Supreme Court seat sat open for a year was during the Civil War.

“Do we really want to say that’s our precedent?” he said.

The American people expect a nomination to be about the law, he said, not politics, and if the Republicans delay a nominee it would be about putting party before country.

“That diminishes the United States Senate, which is supposed to be the conscience of the nation. That diminishes the courts themselves,” he said.

There were some senators who were “afraid” to vote either yes or no, but those people “shouldn’t be in the Senate,” he said.

Leahy spoke with Obama on Saturday after news broke of Scalia’s death, and will meet with the president in the coming days to make recommendations. He refused to name anyone he’d like to see the president nominate, but said he knew the president also had some people in mind.

Leahy, who has been in the Senate longer than any other currently serving senator, has recommended federal judges to presidents of both parties and he said he tells them the same thing.

“Get somebody who the American public can have confidence in, whoever he or she might be," he said. "But don’t play politics.”

His “touchstone” on a good judge? Someone who treats everyone fairly. The stakes of naming a Supreme Court judge are high, he said, because their lifetime appointment means a justice will likely be on the bench long after a president’s term is over.

Leahy hopes the partisanship can be toned down, but he said that Democrats may not be able to force the Republicans to move forward. There’s not much they can do, he said, except point out how “irresponsible” it would be to leave the seat open.

He also added that he expected to see the Republicans lose seats if they hold up the confirmation.

“Frankly, I would not want to be a Republican running for re-election to the U.S. Senate this year with that on my conscience,” he said.

Contact Jess Aloe at 802-660-1874 or jaloe@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jess_aloe