fanfeverbutton

Nascar Fan Fever 2016

Obama: Guantanamo Bay undermines security, must be closed

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; President Barack Obama&#8217;s nominee to the Supreme Court won&#8217;t get a hearing or a vote from the Republican-led Senate, GOP members of the Judiciary Committee said Tuesday as they insisted only the next president must fill the vacancy.</p><p>&#8220;No hearing, no vote,&#8221; said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., as he emerged from a closed-door meeting with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.</p><p>Even the most divisive nominees for the high court have received a hearing before the Judiciary Committee, and the election-year decision to deny such a session is a sharp break with the Senate&#8217;s traditional &#8220;advise and consent&#8221; role. A committee review and a hearing is the first step in the process.</p><p>&#8220;We believe the American people need to decide who is going to make this appointment rather than a lame-duck president,&#8221; said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate&#8217;s No. 2 Republican and like Graham, a member of the Judiciary Committee.</p><p>Hearings would be &#8220;a waste of time,&#8221; added Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.</p><p>As a rationale for their decision, Republicans pointed to a 1992 speech by Vice President Joe Biden, then the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, in which Biden said that in a presidential election year the Senate should &#8220;not consider holding hearings until after the election.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Instead, it would be our pragmatic conclusion that once the political season is under way, and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over,&#8221; said Biden, then the Delaware senator.</p><p>As it turned out, there was no opening on the court that year.</p><p>Earlier in the day, McConnell said his party won&#8217;t permit a vote on any Supreme Court nominee submitted by Obama and will instead &#8220;revisit the matter&#8221; after the presidential election in November.</p><p>&#8220;Presidents have a right to nominate just as the Senate has its constitutional right to provide or withhold consent,&#8221; the majority leader said in a speech on the Senate floor. &#8220;In this case, the Senate will withhold it.&#8221;</p><p>Scalia&#8217;s unexpected Feb. 13 death ignited a major fight in Washington over whether Obama should be able to replace him in a presidential election year. McConnell offered one of the first salvos; Scalia had only been dead for a few hours when McConnell announced that he would oppose replacing him before the election.</p><p>But McConnell&#8217;s remarks Tuesday were his first explicit statement that he would oppose a Senate vote.</p><p>McConnell was at the center of a battle a decade ago over Democratic filibusters of judicial nominees of President George W. Bush and, after Democrats took over the chamber in 2007, repeatedly said Bush&#8217;s judges deserved up or down votes.</p><p>Top Judiciary Committee Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont said the GOP&#8217;s promised obstruction was unprecedented.</p><p>&#8220;During my time on the committee, we have never refused to send a Supreme Court nominee to the full Senate for a confirmation vote, even when the majority of the committee opposed the nomination,&#8221; Leahy said. &#8220;And once reported to the full Senate, every Supreme Court nominee has received an up or down confirmation vote during my more than four decades in the Senate.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_108848364-57fd880567204efdbd9340ea94538589.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to his office from the chamber where he offered a tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia whose death has triggered an election-year political standoff, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Feb. 22, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_108848364-57fd880567204efdbd9340ea94538589.jpg</photo0><caption0>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to his office from the chamber where he offered a tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia whose death has triggered an election-year political standoff, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Feb. 22, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By ANDREW TAYLOR and MARY CLARE JALONICK</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

GOP Senators: No hearing, no vote for Obama Court pick