News

Ryan joins calls to block Obama SCOTUS pick

by Jesse Byrnes - 02/16/16 2:54 PM ET

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday that he supports the Republican push to block a Supreme Court nomination from President Obama to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

“The Supreme Court is not an extension of the White House. The president has absolutely every right to nominate someone to the Supreme Court, but Congress as an equal branch also has every right not to confirm someone,” Ryan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

{mosads}”We are knee deep into a presidential election, and I think the precedent for not filling a Supreme Court vacancy in such a time is justified,” Ryan added.

Ryan is backing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) call for the next president to fill the vacancy left by Scalia, who died unexpectedly in Texas over the weekend at age 79.

Democrats have called on the Senate to move on a replacement, while Republican presidential candidates have said whoever wins in November should make the pick, not Obama.

Referencing the Republican push to block a third Obama nominee, Ryan told the newspaper that “Democrats would be doing exactly the same thing if the shoe were on the other foot.”

Still, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has said that he would hold off making a decision on holding a confirmation hearing for an Obama pick until the nomination is made.

Tags Antonin Scalia Chuck Grassley Mitch McConnell Paul Ryan SCOTUS Supreme Court nominee