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Sen. Leahy confident Obama's Supreme Court nominee will be confirmed by fall
President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee should be confirmed by the fall, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said Monday.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) expressed confidence that the Senate would confirm a successor to retiring Justice John Paul Stevens before the court begins its October session, which would meet Obama’s deadline.
“It'd be the same time schedule that the Republicans had for John Roberts as chief justice, the Democrats had for Sonia Sotomayor,” Leahy said during an appearance on NBC's “Today” show.
Roberts was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed in 2005, while Sotomayor was Obama’s first nominee. She was confirmed last year.
Republicans have warned they could filibuster a nominee if Obama names someone to the court who leans to far to the left. While Democrats only need a majority vote to win confirmation, they need 60 votes to win procedural motions on the nomination.
The party holds 59 of the Senate’s seats, one fewer
than
during Sotomayor’s confirmation battle.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has
promised
a "sustained and vigorous" vetting of the eventual nominee's record,
while Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.)
specifically left open the possibility of a filibuster.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a veteran member of the judiciary panel, said
Monday
that the committee's Republicans would be more willing to work to
confirm a
nominee they view as a non-activist.
“I can say that if the president picks someone who's clearly qualified, I
think
there's no question we can get that person through in a relatively short
period
of time,” Hatch said during a joint interview with Leahy on NBC.
“On the other hand, if he picks an activist judge — I don't
care if the activist judge is liberal or conservative, we ought to do
everything in our power to defeat that person.”
Leahy blamed GOP opposition for what he said were longer and longer confirmation battles on Supreme Court nominees.
He also said he's discussed some of the candidates
for the
bench with the president, but declined to elaborate on that discussion.
The
short list is said to include Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Appeals
Court
Judge Diane Wood, and, according to ABC News Monday morning, former Georgia
Supreme
Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears.
“The Supreme Court really does count and we should get down and begin
work as
soon as possible,” Leahy said.
This article was originally posted at 8:38 A.M.
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