Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday the U.S. Supreme Court “can function with eight justices” in the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia’s sudden death in Texas this weekend and that Senate Republicans will let voters reshape the powerful panel, not President Obama.
Mr. Rubio, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, said Mr. Obama is perfectly within his rights to select a replacement, but that his nominee will be ignored until a new president takes office.
“The president can nominate whoever he wants, but the Senate is not going to act,” Mr. Rubio told “Fox News Sunday.”
Justice Scalia’s death, apparently of natural causes, eliminated the high court’s conservative majority and threatened to reshape the presidential election and Mr. Obama’s final year in office.
Democrats said that with 11 months left in Mr. Obama’s tenure, the Senate has enough time — and indeed an obligation — to confirm a replacement.
Late Saturday, Mr. Obama confirmed that he plans to nominate a successor “in due time.”
But Republican leaders said Saturday that the Senate should wait until a new president is elected to confirm a replacement.
“We are not moving forward on a Supreme Court nominee until after this election,” Mr. Rubio said.
Mr. Rubio, whose shaky debate performance set back his campaign in New Hampshire, is trying to bounce back in South Carolina’s pivotal primary on Feb. 20.
On Sunday, he said he is the only candidate who can unite Republicans, defeat the Democratic nominee and “undo the damage” of Mr. Obama’s presidency.
Mr. Rubio rued the Supreme Court’s decision last year, over dissent from Justice Scalia, to legalize gay marriage throughout the country. He said it should have been left to the states, but there is little he can do about it even if he takes the White House in November.
“A president can’t overturn a Supreme Court decision,” Mr. Rubio said.
As it stands, the Supreme Court has four months left in its current session, the justices still must hear some pivotal cases, including one on Mr. Obama’s immigration deportation amnesty.
In March, the justices will hear from religious nonprofits who say the administration should exempt them from Obamacare’s birth-control rules on employers.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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