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FEB. 22, 2015

WASHINGTON – President Obama just signed Executive Order 14651, which appoints Rashad Hussain as the new Supreme Court Justice to replace Scalia, just two days after his funeral.

Obama told reporters at a press conference today:

“We cannot wait for a new President or the Senate Republicans to fill this vacancy left by Scalia, so I have taken it upon myself to do what needed to be done. Republican Senators believe that it is appropriate not to act on such an important matter, and as I have shown today, I do not agree with that.”

Husssain is an attorney with a Muslim heritage (imagine that!). He served as US Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the second largest intergovernmental body after the UN, and as US Special Envoy for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications. Hussain has also served in the White House Counsel’s Office and on the National Security Council as a political appointee of the Obama Administration.

Under the Constitution, the person who should nominate Supreme Court justices is the President of the State. But, this time it doesn’t feel so right… Well at least for Republicans. Presidential hopeful Donald Trump told ABC News that he does not agree with the President’s decision:

“Hussain is a Muslim and a sympathizer, just like Obama, and now he takes over the legacy the great Antonin Scalia left behind. The President should be ashamed of himself.”

“The American people should have had a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said. “Appointing a Muslim to replace Scalia is absolutely appalling.”

There are also some who support Obama’s decision, like Sarah Bradley, a spokeswoman for Sock It Forward, a group that provides the homeless and the less fortunate with brand new socks:

“We needed someone in there to fill that spot as quickly as possible. Regardless if you agree with Obama’s appointed choice of Hussain, Scalia was a disgrace to the Supreme Court. He was a religious radical, a bigot, a racist, against women’s rights, gay rights and human rights in general; there’s absolutely no reason a man like that should have ever had the power that he did. He will always be remembered as being on the wrong side of history.”

Legal experts believe Republicans will attempt to block Obama’s appointee until he’s out of office, leaving the court with a gaping vacant seat for nearly a year.

“Obama has a right to do what he did, but we’ll fight him to the end on this,” Tom Downey of the Republican National Lawyers Association told reporters. “This injustice will not stand.”

http://www.worldnewspolitics.com/2016/02/22/obama-signs-executive-order-appoints-rashad-hussain-as-new-supreme-court-justice/

Source:

http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/government/judicial_and_courts/news.php?q=1457620259

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: Here are the five people the White House is interviewing for
: the Supreme Court
: Julia Edwards, Reuters
: reposted on Business Insider
: Mar 9, 2016
: http://read.bi/1UX8FAd

: [snip]

: The White House is interviewing five potential nominees for
: the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy created by the death last
: month of Justice Antonin Scalia, a source familiar with the
: process told Reuters on Wednesday.

: The source said those under consideration were federal judges
: Sri Srinivasan, Jane Kelly, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Paul
: Watford and Merrick Garland.

: The five have been reported to be on the short list of
: potential nominees, but the source said they were the only
: ones currently under consideration.