The high-stakes judicial appointment has come at the same time as
the race to the White House
The death of a #Supreme_Court
justuce has prompted Republican senators to say they will block any
new nomination by Barack Obama .
The high-stakes judicial
appointment to the nation's highest court has sparked a bitter battle of
words between Democrats and Republicans.
Before Justice Antonin Scalia's death on Saturday, the US
high court had a conservative 5-4 majority.
As a result, Republicans
are threatening to use their dominance in the law-passing Senate to delay
any appointment and prevent a ninth nomination from the tipping the
balance in favour of the Democrats.
They fear a liberal
"takeover" of the important legislative court and so are claiming the
position ought to be left empty until after the presidential election.
The majority leader of the
Senate, Mitch McConnell, has warned that the
Republican-controlled body will block President Obama from fulfilling his recent promise to
appoint a new justice himself.
"The American people
should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court
Justice. Therefore, this new vacancy should not be filled until we have a
new President."
But his
opposition to the President has provoked a sharp response from Democrats in an
issue likely to further polarise the presidential race for the White
House.
1. What is the
Supreme Court?
The Supreme Court, based in Washington DC,
is established in the country's constitution as the court in which
all "the judicial power of the United States shall be vested."
It takes on cases which appear to effect the nation as
a whole, with its rulings setting a precedent for all lower courts. One of
its best-known powers is to declare an act as a violation of the
constitution.
2. Who are the
justices?
Nine justices
sit on the Supreme Court, with the weight until now in Republicans' favour 5-4
- that is, with five justices from the GOP and four Democrat justices.
According to the consitution, Congress - the
law-making arm of government, divided into the House of Representatives and the
Senate - is permitted to decide how to organise the Supreme Court.
But Article Two of the constitution also gives the
President the power to appoint justices.
"He shall nominate, and by and with the Advice
and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of the supreme Court,"
says the constitution.
3. Why is
Justice Scalia's death so significant?
Scalia has
left a gap which, if filled by a Democrat, could see Supreme Court power
swing back towards a liberal viewpoint at 5-4 Democrats to
Republicans.
This would at last give Democrats an arena of
influence outside the White House.
Currently both the House of
Representatives, which is the shorter-term, law-making house of government, and
the Senate, which is the longer-term law-making house, are controlled by
Republicans.
Because of the non-proportional voting system in the
US, the Republicans were able to claim more seats despite a Democrat
presidential victory in 2014.
If the Republicans were able to block the Supreme
Court appointment by Obama, by January 2017 they could potentially have a
Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Senate and White House.
4. Can the
Senate really block President Obama's appointment of a new Supreme Court
Justice?
The law around this is hazy
and tends to be brought up when political advantage suits one side or another.
Russell Wheeler, a judicial
expert with the Brookings Institution, told the Washington Post: "It's
just sort of a pie-in-the-sky flexibility that both parties try to disown when
it's convenient for them and try to say it means something when it's not."
But because Republicans have
control of the Senate, they can theoretically just refuse to pass Mr Obama's
nomination.
Indeed, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio
and Donald Trump have already all urged their Republican allies in the Senate,
and Mr McConell especially, to block any choice of justice by Mr Obama.
Both the Democrat minority
leader Harry Reid, however, and Hillary Clinton, have said it is the
President's right.
Senator Reid has said:
"Failing to fill this vacancy would be a shameful abdication of one of the
Senate’s most essential Constitutional responsibilities."
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