Sen. Tom Carper (D-Delaware) says he believes the Senate needs to be ready to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia over the weekend.
Some Republicans have suggested that President Obama not send a nominee to Capitol Hill because it is an election year.
Sen. Tom Carper disagrees – and is urging his colleagues to consider the nominee President Obama says he intends to name.
"I hope we in the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, will set aside the politics and the question of whether or not President Obama in his last year in office is going to get the chance to nominate a Supreme Court Justice and get that person confirmed. I hope we will consider the qualities of the judge,” said Carper.
Carper adds he does not expect President Obama to rush into naming a nominee in the next week or two, but believes when he does settle on someone, it will be a thoughtful choice.
And Carper says that choice deserves "a fair shot."
"I think if the President submits a nominee whose intellect, temperament and [level of] hard work are all A+ that it will put the Republicans on the spot and there will be pressure, I hope, on them to actually seriously vet that candidate, to move forward through the hearing process and let the chips fall where they may.”
But Carper worries that the Senate's track record of dragging its feet with lower court nominees, despite the judicial backlog it creates, does not bode well.
"Justice delayed is justice denied," said Carper. "The long and short of it is we need judges. [Delaying judicial nominees] is a disservice to our citizens.
Carper also says while he disagreed with Justice Scalia on many issues, no one should question his intellect, patriotism or service to the country.
