President Barack Obama wants Republican senators to just forget what Joe Biden said more than 20 years ago about delaying a Supreme Court pick.
“We know senators say stuff all the time,” Obama said Wednesday in comments from the Oval Office.
Though Obama didn’t mention his vice president by name, it was a clear reference to then-Sen. Biden’s much-discussed argument against filling a vacancy on the high court. Republicans are using Biden’s June 1992 Senate floor speech as they vow not to hold hearings on, or even meet with, Obama’s nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
Also read: Blogger-in-chief Obama spells out qualities of Supreme Court nominee.
Referring to past statements from Biden, as well as Sen. Chuck Schumer, Obama said their words have “no application to the actual situation that we have right now” since there was no nomination at stake at the time. Biden, in a statement on Monday, said his speech was about a hypothetical nominee and that it isn’t evidence that he opposes filling a Supreme Court vacancy in an election year.
Obama is digging in for a fight. He told reporters “I’m gonna do my job” and name a replacement, and said it would be “very difficult” for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to continue blocking a nominee if Americans back his choice.
Wednesday afternoon, the Washington Post reported Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, is being vetted by the White House for a possible nomination. The Post said Sandoval is increasingly viewed by some key Democrats as the only nominee Obama could pick who would be able to break the Republican blockade.