Political Quotes

“Mr. President, in February of this year, Justice Scalia passed away. It was an enormous loss to the Nation. In the hours and the days following that, Republicans in the Senate had the opportunity to talk about their constitutional responsibility-- the responsibility of advice and consent. Supreme Court justices don't show up to the Supreme Court because the President just nominates them. In the Constitution, article II, section 2, lays out a 50-50 proposition. The President has the first 50 percent. He narrows down his list, and he nominates. The Senate then has the second 50 percent. They have the power of what is called advice and consent. The first half of that is when. Is this the right time to do a nominee? And with many nominees, historically--Ambassadors, Justices, Cabinet officers--the Senate has had a long delay to be able to say: No, this is not the right time. So the first question is, Is this the right time? The second question is, Is this the right person? That is the process of advice and consent, and it has been for 200 years. So what has happened since February? Since February, Republicans have been very consistent--myself included--to say: This is not the time to have a Supreme Court Justice go through the nomination process.…”