News / Politics

Trump, Senate leaders to meet on Supreme Court vacancy

Tuesday, 24 January 2017 9:30 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 24 January 2017 9:36 PM ]

US President Donald Trump smiles during a reception with Congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (L), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (2nd L) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (3rd L), House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (R) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy on January 23, 2017 at the White House in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump and the Senate leaders are set to hold a meeting to discuss a powerful seat left open in the Supreme Court since the time of former President Barack Obama.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the announcement Tuesday, noting that Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer as well as Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein would also attend the meeting, scheduled to take place in the Roosevelt Room on Tuesday afternoon.

“The president has invited the Democratic leader, the chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and myself to the White House this afternoon to meet with him regarding the Supreme Court vacancy as part of his ongoing consultations with members of the Senate," McConnell said. "I appreciate the president soliciting our advice on this important matter.”

He made the remarks after White House press secretary Sean Spicer said an update should be expected over the matter "in the next week or so."

Leaving the seat open

Justice Antonin Scalia’s bench is draped in black following his death on February 13, 2016.

Last year’s death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch conservative, left the nine-member Supreme Court evenly divided between conservatives and liberals.

Republicans in control of the Congress refused to give Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, a hearing, hoping that the next president is a Republican so that the balance of the court can remain in favor of the GOP.

The Senate Democrat has threatened to keep the seat open if Trump refuses to name a “mainstream” nominee.

“If the nominee is not bipartisan and mainstream, we absolutely will keep the seat open,” Schumer said, adding that the Democrats would fight "tooth and nail" over the issue.

While campaigning for the 2016 presidential election, Trump outlined a list of 21 potential replacements for late Scalia.

A poll, conducted in 2015 during Scalia’s 29th year as a justice, found that 32 percent of Americans are unaware of who he is.

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