PLAYING NICE

Biden: Obama Wants GOP-Supported Justice

In seeking successor for Antonin Scalia.

In seeking a Supreme Court justice to succeed recently deceased Antonin Scalia, President Obama is reportedly seeking someone who has had Republican support in the past. In a radio interview, Vice President Joe Biden gave the first hint at Obama’s plans. “In order to get this done, the president is not going to be able to go out—nor would it be his instinct, anyway—to pick the most liberal jurist in the nation and put them on the court,” Biden told a Minnesota radio station. “There are plenty of judges [who] are on high courts already who have had unanimous support of the Republicans.” Any nominee must be confirmed by the Senate, where Republicans hold a majority. Several in the GOP have argued that Obama should leave the decision to the next president, but Biden said: “To leave the seat vacant at this critical moment in American history is a little bit like saying, ‘God forbid something happen to the president and the vice president, we’re not going to fill the presidency for another year and a half.’”