Rand Paul: Obama Has 'Conflict Of Interest' In Appointing SCOTUS Nominee

[KamaAina]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rand-paul-obama-conflict-interest-scotus

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who recently dropped out of the Republican presidential race, on Monday argued that President Obama has a "conflict of interest" in nominating someone to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who passed away over the weekend.

Paul suggested to Kentucky radio host Leland Conway that because there are cases challenging policies of the Obama administration, including lawsuits targeting his clean power plan and executive actions on immigration, the President should not be able to choose a nominee.

The senator said that the Supreme Court reviews cases that are "trying to figure out who has the power to do what."

"The president has said he has the power basically to create immigration law out of nothing," Paul said. "He says he has the power to basically cripple entire industries like coal without ever having been given that power by Congress. So see, we have a Constitutional debate on whose powers -- the president or Congress? And I think the president sort of has a conflict of interest here in appointing somebody while we’re trying to decide whether or not he’s already usurped power."

Are there any cases before SCOTUS involving rugs?

[HassleCat]

1. He said "sort of" a conflict of interest.

Where "sort of" means "a little bit, but not enough so I can explain it to you. That's different from the way we usually use "sort of," as in, "You're sort of stupid, Rand Paul." Where "sort of" means, "Oh my God, to the infinite degree, more than I could even imagine!"

[bkkyosemite]

2. Uh The Constitution does not say unless there are cases in the wing

for immigration and clean energy....

They need to just shut up! And Obama needs to do everything in his power to get a nominee into the court.

[Kber]

3. Yes, well that's where the "advise and consent" part comes in.

[Johonny]

6. It's almost like they don't understand their job

[onenote]

4. the conflict of interest issue might apply if Obama was appointed to the court

but it doesn't apply to his appointing someone to the court. if that was the standard, no president could ever appoint anyone to the judiciary.

Paul is a moron.

[MineralMan]

5. Read the Constitution, Rand Paul, you moron.

The language is very simple: "The President shall appoint..."

That's what it says. It's his job. It's been his job since the Constitution was adopted. Your job is to confirm, since you somehow got elected to be a Senator. I'm hopeful that your tenure will be short, since you apparently don't understand our establishing document.