RANCHO MIRAGE: President Barack Obama said he would name a new Supreme Court justice to replace Antonin Scalia, slapping down Republican demands for a delay and setting up a monumental election-year fight.
"I plan to fulfil my constitutional responsibilities," Obama said Saturday, rejecting a chorus of right wing demands that he leave Scalia's replacement to his successor.
The conservative justice, appointed to the lifetime post in 1986 by president Ronald Reagan, died unexpectedly in Texas on Saturday, 11 months before the end of Obama's term. He was 79.
Scalia was a dependable conservative vote on the bench, opposing gay marriage, abortion and expanded healthcare.
Until Scalia's death the nine-member court had five conservative justices and four liberals. With Scalia gone conservatives and liberals are equally balanced.
The prospect that Obama would name a liberal replacement - decisively tipping the court balance - has turbocharged an already divisive presidential election campaign.
Obama has already appointed two liberal Supreme Court justices, and a third would make him the most consequential president for the court since Reagan.
History would suggest that he will announce his choice within weeks.
The nominee would then go to the Republican-controlled Senate, where the candidate would need support from a majority of senators for confirmation.
Obama could choose a political centrist in the hope of winning over four Republican senators, enough to secure confirmation assuming all 44 Democrats and two independents also back his choice.
The US vice president would cast a deciding vote if needed.
Alternatively, Obama could nominate a more ideological figure that rallies the Democratic base but has no chance of being confirmed.
Republican leaders have made it clear they have no intention of approving Obama's choice.
"The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice," the Senate Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.
"This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president."
The US presidential election is set for November 8, and the next president takes office in early January. Under this scenario the Supreme Court would be one justice short for about a year.
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