A political fight is brewing in Washington over who could replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who passed away over the weekend. President Barack Obama says he will appoint someone in due time. Senate Republicans, lead by Sen. Mitch McConnell, say they will block any nomination because they say that should be the responsibility of the next president. Precious Hall is an instructor of Political Science at Truckee Meadows Community College. She says if a nominee blocked, it could leave the Supreme Court with only eight members, possibly for 13-16 months.
"The president who is in office should be able to appoint, whether that person is a Republican or Democrat," Hall said. "That is his, or maybe eventually, her constitutional right and constitutional duty."
Some say there is an unwritten rule that the president should not appoint anyone during an election year, but Hall says there is no time limit for appointing Supreme Court Justices in the Constitution.
"This is just true politics, I guess at it's best or worst depending on how you look at it," Hall said.
Chad Schmucker is the president of The National Judicial College. He says Scalia's absence could leave a huge void in determining cases. Having eight justices won't have much of an impact on unanimous decisions, but a 4-4 split would leave a lot of uncertainty of what the law of the land is.
"We have a third branch," Schmucker said. "We expect that branch to function. You can't expect it to function without a person in there."
Schmucker expects President Obama to nominate someone, and expect the Senate to vote. Whether it confirms the next justice remains to be seen.
"Both sides will spend a lot of time trying to prove their case that this person is well-qualified or is unqualified," Schmucker said. "The stakes seem to be much higher now."
Most U.S. presidents have appointed at least one person to the Supreme Court. The last one who did not appoint someone was Jimmy Carter. That shows the long-lasting impacts of a presidential election because a Justice could potentially serve, decades after the president leaves office. Hall says if the Republicans block an appointee, it could have a negative impact on them. It could also backfire, if the next president is a Democrat.
"It is them sending a message that they don't care about whether our government functions or not," Hall said. "They only care about getting their way and the American people are really tired of that message."
Schmucker has met Scalia, and says the conservative Justice believes in a strong, educated judiciary.Â
"I'm sure he would have some thoughts as to who would be the best person to replace him but I think he believes that seat needs to be filled," Schmucker said.
Schmucker says the pool of candidates will be fairly small. Most Supreme Court Justices come from the Federal Court of Appeals and went to a top-20 law school. Including Scalia, all nine members of the bench attended Harvard or Yale.
