REUTERS/Darren Hauck
Hillary Clinton.
"I have news for Republicans who would put
She added: "So, a message for Senate Republicans: Fill this vacancy. @POTUS will do his job. Do yours."
The vacant seat on the nation's highest court is now at the center of the 2016 presidential election. Some Senate Republicans and GOP presidential contenders are calling for Obama's nomination to be blocked through the fall's election, saying a president should not be able to fill a seat in a virtual lame-duck year.
Democrats have insisted that it is Obama's constitutional duty to fill the seat, regardless of whether he is in his final year in office. They have argued that Senate Republicans would be in violation of the Constitution by delaying the process through the election.
The last time a Supreme Court justice was confirmed to the court during a president's last year in office was 1988, when Justice Anthony Kennedy took his place on the court during President Ronald Reagan's final year in the White House. Kennedy was nominated in 1987, and only after Senate Democrats blocked Reagan's original nominee, Robert Bork, however.
The Supreme Court's current vacancy opened up after Scalia's sudden death in Texas on Saturday.
View Clinton's Monday tweets below:
1 Until Jan. 20, 2017, it's @POTUS' job to nominate Supreme Court justices-it's right there in the Constitution. -H pic.twitter.com/AWV47TRaTw
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 20162 The need to fill the Supreme Court vacancy is not an occasion for politics as usual. This has real and urgent stakes for Americans now. -H
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 20163 Right now, millions of families are waiting for SCOTUS to decide on @POTUS' executive actions on immigration. -H
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 20164 Right now, the fundamental principle of "one person, one vote" is at stake in a case before the Supreme Court. -H
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 20165 And right now, a case from Texas could determine whether the right to abortion will be a reality for all or some. -H
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 20166 These decisions could determine whether we as a nation uphold our principles of liberty and equality, or turn back the clock. -H
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 20167 With these critical cases in the balance, Republicans wasted no time in vowing to block any SCOTUS nomination from @POTUS. A new low. -H
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 20168 I have news for Republicans who would put politics over the Constitution: Refusing to do your duty isn't righteous, it's disgraceful. -H
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 20169 There are 339 days until the next president takes office. The Senate has never taken more than 125 days to vote on a SCOTUS nominee. -H
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 201610 As for complaints that this is an election year: 1988 was an election year, too-and Justice Kennedy was confirmed 97-0. -H
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 201611 So, a message for Senate Republicans: Fill this vacancy. @POTUS will do his job. Do yours. -H
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 2016