Obama meeting with Senate leaders on Supreme Court vacancy

Obama is meeting with Senate leaders over Supreme Court vacancy — (Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images))

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are heading to the White House to meet with their Democratic counterparts, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), President Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden, to discuss a replacement for late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Since McConnell and Grassley have ruled out even holding hearings on whoever Obama nominates, it's unlikely much of substance will be discussed at the meeting.

"At another time, the gathering might have been a nod to the tradition of at least limited cooperation in naming and confirming justices to the nation's highest court," The Associated Press explains. "The president might have floated potential candidates; Senate opposition might have come armed with their own preferred names. But in the current fight, gestures of collaboration seem moot." White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that Obama will bring up the historical precedents for confirming justices in a presidential election year, while McConnell is likely to bring up Obama and Biden's previous statements on confirming justices nominated by Republican presidents.

Precedent is pretty scarce, actually, according to SCOTUSBlog editor Amy Howe. A Supreme Court justice has not been nominated and confirmed in an election year since 1940, and no lame-duck president has faced a Supreme Court opening in his final year since at least 1900. In the 116 years since, six Supreme Court seats were vacant during a presidential election year, and all of those seats were filled.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.