Hillary Clinton predicted Monday that President Barack Obama will nominate a Supreme Court justice who has already gone through a Senate confirmation process before to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, which would make it harder for Republicans to make good on their promise to block any nomination Obama puts before them.
"I think the President's going to look for somebody who has a record that is gonna be hard for the Republicans to be against," Clinton said during a campaign event in Nevada on Monday, CNN reported. "Somebody who is a sensible person with a good record and maybe somebody who's already been confirmed by the Senate."
Clinton pointed out that it would be hypocritical to reject some potential candidates because they were confirmed unanimously. "We've got some judges on the courts of appeals, they were confirmed 99 to nothing," Clinton said, the Associated Press reported. "So there people who have already gone through the process."
"There are some great other people, great jurists and lawyers and advocates," she added. "So I'm hoping that we get somebody nominated and everybody will say, 'Hey, the only reason to block this is pure partisanship, and so do your duty. This person is well prepared.'"
The Democratic front-runner also said that Obama remains president for another 11 months and "has a responsibility" to put forth a new justice.
"Barack Obama is president of the United States until January 20, 2017," Clinton said. "That is a fact, my friends, whether the Republicans like it or not. Elections have consequences. The President has a responsibility to nominate a new justice and the Senate has a responsibly to vote. And all of us Democrats, we have a responsibly to make sure a Republican doesn't win in November and rip away all of the progress we have made together."
Immediately upon the announcement of Scalia's death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, along with other Republican leaders, said that the Senate should not confirm a replacement until after the 2016 election. "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice," McConnell said, Politico reported. "Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president."
