Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/644004
ByAlanFram The Associated Press WASHINGTON Thehistory of Supreme Court nomina- tions is dominated by tales of picks the Senate debated and approved with little angst. President Barack Obama's upcoming effort to fill the vacancy created by Antonin Scalia's death doesn't seem to be one of those stories. Senators were return- ing to Washington Monday from a weeklong recess that saw the 79-year-old justice's unexpected passing inject a blaring new issue into this election year. Senate Ma- jority Leader Mitch Mc- Connell's declaration that the vacancy should remain "until we have a new pres- ident" infuriated Demo- crats who want the spot filled promptly, setting up a lengthy fight for which each side is still mapping its moves. McConnell's statement was an unambiguous cry of opposition to confirming an Obama pick, but it seemed to leave leaders with the tac- tical flexibility for some Sen- ate consideration short of approval, such as hearings. But the majority leader — who controls the Senate's schedule — seemed to rule out that option in an opin- ion column posted late Fri- day on the Lexington Her- ald-Leader newspaper's website. The Kentucky Re- publican wrote that he fa- vors "deferring action in the Senate" until a new presi- dent selects someone for the vacant seat. The stakes for the Sca- lia vacancy are especially high because it comes dur- ing an election year and by replacing him, Obama could tip the court's bal- ance from conservative to liberal. He's expected to an- nounce his nomination in coming weeks. Unanswered questions were making it tough for Republicans to fine-tune their approach just yet, in- cluding who Obama will name and who the GOP presidential nominee will be. Another challenge was how GOP senators facing re-election in closely di- vided states would strike a balance between retaining conservatives' support and avoiding accusations from independent voters of be- ing too partisan. One of those senators, Kelly Ayotte, a New Hamp- shire Republican whose GOP primary election is not until September, displayed no such concerns Friday. She tweeted, "W/ so much on the line, Senate should not proceed w confirmation process until American ppl have spoken by electing a new president in Nov." GOP senators planned to discuss the court vacancy Tuesday at their weekly pri- vate lunch. Despite initial suggestions by some that hearings were possible, Re- publicans have rallied be- hind McConnell's argument that with November's pres- idential and congressional elections approaching, the Scalia seat should remain empty until voters choose the next president. "Even if the president nominated my daughter, who's a lawyer, to the Su- preme Court, I think the American people ought to get to vote and decide if they'd like to see my daugh- ter on the Supreme Court," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said Friday in Arnold, Missouri, where he launched his own re-election campaign. Outnumbered Democrats were solidly behind Obama but seemed to face an uphill climb. They were strategiz- ing over how to maximize pressure on Republican sen- ators, including Ayotte and four others seeking re-elec- tion in states Obama won in both 2008 and 2012: Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Sen. Richard Durbin, D- Ill., the No. 2 Senate Dem- ocratic leader, said Friday that Republicans "are run- ning the risk that by reject- ing any nomination sight unseen, they're confirming the worst fears of the Amer- ican people that nothing is being done on the merits. It's all political." No. 3 Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York predicted that voter pressure will force the GOP to consider the nom- ination because failure to act "will hurt badly the Re- publican brand, which is trying to get away from ob- structionism." Recent decades have seen other pitched battles over Supreme Court selections, includingRobertBork's1987 rejection and Samuel Ali- to's confirmation in 2006. Yet it's unusual for the Sen- ate to wage titanic struggles over the selections, or take no action at all. Since 1789, presidents have sent 160 Supreme Court nominations to the Senate, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. Of those, 124 were confirmed. SUPREME COURT Battle over Scalia vacancy departs from historic norm ALEXBRANDON—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS The front of the U.S. Supreme Court is seen early Friday in Washington. MATT ROURKE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS John Mew, right, photographs his wife and kids a er voting in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary on Saturday at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in West Columbia, S.C. By Steve Peoples and Nicholas Riccardi The Associated Press ELKO, NEVADA Marco Ru- bio amassed increasing support for his candidacy while Ted Cruz's campaign showed signs of struggle as Republican presidential candidates crisscrossed Nevada on Monday on the final day of campaigning ahead of the state's GOP caucuses. CruztoldreportersMon- day he has asked his cam- paign spokesman, Rick Ty- ler, to resign for tweeting a story that falsely alleged Rubio insulted the Bible. "We are not a campaign that is going to question the faith of another candi- date for president," he said, calling Tyler "a good man" and noting that he deleted the tweet once he discov- ered it was false. It's not the first time that Cruz's campaign has been accused by rivals of using questionable tac- tics. Cruz apologized to GOP hopeful Ben Car- son earlier this month after his campaign pro- moted a news story sug- gesting that Carson was getting out of the race. Cruz's campaign has also acknowledged creating a website that used a com- puter program to create a fake picture of Rubio shaking hands with Pres- ident Barack Obama. Speaking during a cam- paign stop in Elko, Ne- vada, earlier Monday, Ru- bio criticized Cruz for the incident and asked whether Cruz would fire anyone involved. "It's every single day something comes out of the Cruz campaign that's deceptive and untrue, and in this case goes after my faith," Rubio told reporters when asked about the inci- dent. "I guess one of their spokespersons apologized, and I accept their apology." Republican front-run- ner Donald Trump lashed out at Cruz over Twitter on Monday, saying that Cruz "has now apologized to Marco Rubio and Ben Carson for fraud and dirty tricks. No wonder he has lost Evangelical support!" He reiterated his calls for disqualifying Cruz be- cause of "his fraudulent win in Iowa." Trump was scheduled to hold two rallies in Nevada — one in Elko and another later in Las Vegas. Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Mon- day that the billionaire businessman has been seeking advice from for- mer New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as he grad- ually expands his tight in- ner circle. Meanwhile, establish- ment heavyweights con- tinued to back Rubio, with many saying they see him as the candidate who can unite a disharmonious Re- publican Party. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch were the latest to endorse Rubio. South Florida's three Cuban-American members of Congress also said that they shifted their support to Rubio, having previously supported for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's now defunct bid. Former Sen. Bob Dole told ABC News on Monday that he too had been back- ing Bush, but he's now sup- porting Rubio because "he wants to grow the party as opposed to Cruz. I don't know what he wants to grow." Since Friday, Rubio has added 12 new Con- gressional or gubernato- rial endorsements, while Trump and Cruz have added none. While five men offi- cially remain in the race for the Republican nom- ination, House Major- ity Leader Kevin McCar- thy billed it as a two-man contest between Trump and Rubio. Speaking to MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Monday, McCarthy said Trump's victory and Ru- bio's second-place finish in Saturday's South Caro- lina primary dealt a blow to Cruz's strategy to win the nomination. The Cal- ifornia congressman pre- dicted voters in Florida, Rubio's home state, would determine whether Rubio continues or Trump eas- ily rolls on to the nomi- nation. Rubio builds momentum, Cr uz s ho wi ng s ig ns o f struggle as Nevada dawns CAMPAIGN 2016 By Ben Nuckols The Associated Press WASHINGTON President Barack Obama on Mon- day declined to endorse the boldest proposal from the nation's governors to tackle the heroin crisis: limiting the number of high-powered painkillers doctors can prescribe at a time. A recommendation to limit the number opioid painkillers that doctors can hand out gained bi- partisan support at the Na- tional Governors Associa- tion's winter meeting over the weekend. But Obama was cool to the idea at a meeting with the governors he hosted at the White House on Mon- day, noting that painkillers are sometimes the only re- alistic treatment option for people in rural communi- ties. "If we go to doctors right now and say 'Don't over- prescribe' without provid- ing some mechanisms for people in these communi- ties to deal with the pain that they have or the is- sues that they have, then we're not going to solve the problem, because the pain is real, the mental ill- ness is real," Obama said. "In some cases, addiction is already there." 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