Hillary Clinton: Republicans ‘Dishonor’ Constitution by Vowing to Block Scalia Replacement

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said that Republicans “dishonor” the Constitution by pledging to block President Obama’s nominees to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.

Scalia, 79, died Saturday on a quail hunting trip in Texas, and his death is already causing Clinton to gear up for war against Senate Republicans. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell voiced his opinion that a Scalia replacement should not be confirmed until the new president is elected. Scalia was appointed to the Court in 1986 by Ronald Reagan.

“The Republicans in the Senate and on the campaign trail who are calling for Justice Scalia’s seat to remain vacant dishonor our Constitution,” Clinton said. “The Senate has a constitutional responsibility here that it cannot abdicate for partisan political reasons.”

However, the Senate does not have a constitutional responsibility to confirm an Obama nominee before January 2017.

Clinton is burnishing her left-wing credentials as she tries to stem the tide of Bernie Sanders’ massive momentum in the Democratic primary. Sanders won the New Hampshire primary, though Clinton’s sweep of un-elected superdelegates gave her just as many New Hampshire delegates as Sanders. Clinton is ahead in the polls in the Feb. 27 South Carolina primary, which will be decided by the black vote, but Sanders is campaigning hard to link himself to Al Sharpton and to reach out to the “Black Lives Matter” contingent through his press secretary, Symone Sanders, a former activist.