Recess appointment to replace Scalia?

[DCBob]

The Constitution not only assigns to the president the task of making nominations to the Supreme Court, setting off Senate review that may or may not result in approval, but it also gives the Chief Executive the opportunity to fill a vacancy on the Court temporarily, bypassing the Senate initially, if a nominee languishes in the Senate without final action.

Within a few hours after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, it became abundantly clear that, first, President Obama will choose a possible successor and try to get the Senate to go along, and, second, the GOP leadership of the Senate say they will try to block any such nominee from final approval.

If that does result in an impasse, President Obama may ponder the possibility of putting on the Court a new Justice of his choosing, to serve temporarily. The problem, though, is that less than two years ago, the Supreme Court severely narrowed the flexibility of such temporary appointment power, and strengthened the Senate’s capacity to frustrate such a presidential maneuver.

more: http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/02/is-a-recess-appointment-to-the-court-an-option/

Bottom line.. not likely but it is a possibility President Obama might try this.

Will the Democratic candidates call for him to try this?

[Ed Suspicious]

1. They won't recess. Do they ever anymore? I thought they were leaving someone behind to gavel in and

out every day.

[DCBob]

2. Yeah, I guess that is their strategy to stop this sort of thing.

But Obama might challenge them anyway.

[Chasstev365]

3. It's An Election Year

With 1/3 up for reelection, it would be difficult to maintain a quorum.

[speaktruthtopower]

4. The next president..

is likely to have a few more appointments, so I doubt he is going to do anything controversial enough to energize the Republican base between now and November.

[DCBob]

5. Well actually leaving the spot open until the election will energize them even more.

For obvious reasons.

[speaktruthtopower]

6. He'll nominate someone the Senate likes

[DCBob]

7. That will be difficult unless its a Scalia clone.

imo.

[Agschmid]

8. Bad idea.

[BlueStreak]

9. Very bad idea. The much better idea is to

put a candidate out there, having huddled with Clinton and Sanders, with the understanding that this candidate is supported by all three. That forces the GOP to decide whether they want the SCOTUS to rise to be a primary issue in the general election campaign. This is the one scenario where the public actually can be engaged to understand the importance of the SCOTUS. The last 12 weeks leading up to Election day, the Party should highlight one of the 5-4 decisions that was spearheaded by Scalia and show how it is hurting average Americans every day.

Obama should be very clear about this strategy and see if the GOP has the stomach for that, knowing that, in the end, even it they delay confirmation until 2017, they are likely to have to approve this nominee when resubmitted by President Clinton or President Sanders.

And to make matters even worse for the GOP, this strategy invites Trump to use this issue against the rest of the GOP field, saying "See, this is exactly why you need President Trump. Those morons in Washington can't get anything done." Does the GOP really want to take this risk? I don't think so.