(Photo courtesy Facebook/Darin LaHood)
By Jim McCabe/FarmWeekNow.com
PEORIA – U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, said he doesn’t want to see President Barack Obama nominate a successor to late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
LaHood said it should wait until a new president is elected and says it’s not just about ideology.
“Chuck Schumer, the new Democratic leader, he said at the end of (George W.) Bush’s term, we shouldn’t vote on any of Bush’s Supreme Court nominees until the next election,” LaHood said. “That’s the sentiment I hear from people when I travel around my district.”
LaHood said he expects the President will submit a nominee and the Senate will need to consider whether to allow the confirmation to go through.
“This is a much different dynamic than we’ve ever had before,” LaHood said. “The country is divided, (the court) is a 4-4 split and I think having an election and let the new president decide it is the best course to take.”
LaHood said Scalia’s death leaves a tremendous void on the high court.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the Senate should not confirm a replacement for Supreme Court until after a new president is elected. McConnell, along with every other Republican senator in a Democratically-controlled Senate, voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in Ronald Reagan’s final year of presidency.
President Obama is in his final year of presidency and has gotten two other justices to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
