Today is the 28th anniversary of Justice Anthony Kennedy's oath of office. Noting that, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights has pointed out that Justice Kennedy was nominated by President Reagan and confirmed unanimously to the Supreme Court by a Democratic-controlled Senate during an election year in 1988.
President Reagan, when he nominated Kennedy, asked the Senate to "join together in a bipartisan effort to fulfill our constitutional obligation of restoring the United States Supreme Court to full strength."
"The anniversary of Justice Kennedy’s swearing in is even more proof that the Senate can and should work on a bipartisan basis to ensure a full bench on the Supreme Court in 2016," says Leadership Conference CEO Wade Henderson (photographed at Legal Aid's Servant of Justice Awards Dinner).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said there should not be a nominee to the Supreme Court until the next President is in office.
"The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President,” said McConnell in a statement.
It's a position that has been echoed by many Republican politicians and presidential candidates—though not all. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), for instance, said he “would wait until the nominee is made before I would make any decision.”
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