Paul Ryan: Congress Has ‘Every Right’ To Not Confirm SCOTUS Nominee

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks during his weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said Tuesday afternoon that the Congress has “every right” not to confirm a Supreme Court nominee put forth by President Barack Obama.

Ryan tweeted that sentiment and elaborated further in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“We are knee deep into a presidential election and I think the precedent for not filling a Supreme Court vacancy in such a time is justified,” Ryan told the newspaper.

Since the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Saturday, many congressional Republicans either have argued that Obama doesn’t have the right to nominate a replacement justice, or that Obama is a lame-duck President who should hand-off the nomination to whomever wins in November.

“The president has tried everything he can to empower the executive branch at the expense of the legislative one,” Ryan continued. “His Supreme Court nominees have all contributed to that, those that he has placed on the bench already. So not only does Congress have the authority to stop a nominee, it has an obligation to defend itself against a president and a radically altered court that would continue to seize its powers.”

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Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for bp bp says:

    I always suspected that this man was an idiot. Now I am sure!!!

  2. Avatar for jsfox jsfox says:

    "“The president has tried everything he can to empower the executive branch at the expense of the legislative one,” Maybe if you guys had decide to do you jobs he would have taken any executive actions. But nope why break record as the most do nothing Congress in our history.

  3. Ryan: We will not be doing our job if we didn’t obstruct everything that Obama does. Obama expects obstruction and we are merely doing what he expects us to do.

  4. Avatar for bkmn bkmn says:

    The party of government doesn’t work doesn’t work. Stop paying the asshats.

  5. anybody tired of the “its them not us who are radicals”…?

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