No one will ever accuse Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of charging as hard as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who criticizes opponents with a bluntness that angers leaders of his own party.
When Mr. Casey criticizes, sometimes he won’t even name names.
Take today when Mr. Casey’s staff organized a conference call to promote his view that the Senate should act this year to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. He was joined on the call by Center for American Progress Action Fund President and Chief Executive Officer Neera Tanden and Jon Pushinsky, a constitutional and civil rights lawyer, but Mr. Casey did most of the talking.
The senator got on the call knowing his Pennsylvania colleague in the Senate, Sen. Pat Toomey, wants to wait until next year so the next president can nominate the replacement.
Mr. Toomey thinks waiting will let voters decide if a Democratic or Republican president should nominate the new justice.
“Given that we are already well into the presidential election process and that the Supreme Court appointment is for a lifetime, it makes sense to give the American people a more direct say in this critical decision,” Mr. Toomey said in a conference call Feb. 15.
Mr. Casey criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, for saying he won’t even meet with or allow a vote on any replacement President Barack Obama nominates. He pointed to past Supreme Court justices nominated and confirmed in presidential election years.
“I think I would boil it down to one phrase with regard to my Republican colleagues and it’s ‘Do you job,’” Mr. Casey said. “It’s not a work strategy that we need to develop. It’s right in the Constitution. It tells us what to do and we should follow that.”
He said failing to hold hearings on Mr. Obama’s likely nominee goes against the country’s values.
“I know there are some people who are arguing, making among other arguments, let the people decide. That sounds great. It’s a nice slogan, but it in this case doesn’t apply,” he said.
Though he mentioned Mr. McConnell, he never directly mentioned Mr. Toomey’s name, A reporter on the call asked if Mr. Casey talked to Mr. Toomey about the topic.
“The Senate has a job to do and every senator should consider the nomination that the president will make, number one,” Mr. Casey said. “Number two is Sen. Toomey and I talk on a regular basis on a range of issues I’m not going to specify. But you could imagine that part of what we have to talk about on a regular basis is the selection of federal judges and consideration of that process.”
— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK
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Casey pushes need for Scalia replacement vote this year
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