WPRO News and The Associated Press
WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse says President Obama must stand up to Republicans trying to block the president from nominating someone this year to replace the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
The Democrat told WPRO’s Anita Baffoni that “The Republicans have talked a lot about following the Constitution and following regular order. Well, the Constitution says the president appoints, the senate gives its advice and consent, and that’s the regular order.”
He says getting the Senate to confirm a nominee will be difficult.
Whitehouse, a former U.S. attorney and state attorney general, toldalso told WPRO that he is not interested in the job. He says that if he was asked, he would tell the president “Thank you but no thank you. I’m very very flattered that you think of me in these terms, but I love being in the Senate, I love representing Rhode Island, and I have no intention of changing that.” There was speculation he could be considered.
Rhode Island’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Jack Reed, also said in a statement Thursday that the nomination and confirmation process should move forward.
