Obama will nominate new chief justice

- President Barack Obama will have during his tenure make a nomination for the succession of Saturday deceased Chief Justice Antonin Scalia (79), since 1986 a member of the US Supreme Court.

Obama expressed his intention Saturday (local time) during a slotted press conference at the California Rancho Mirage, where he spoke praising the merits Scalia. The judge died Saturday in his sleep at a resort in Texas.

Obama said it was his constitutional duty to nominate a successor. Which goes beyond party interests, the president said. The nomination will be done in due according to him, without giving a timeframe.

After the death of Scalia is immediately arose a fierce political battle over the appointment of a new member of the Supreme Court. Before his death, conservative judges had a majority in the nine-member Supreme Court. Democrats now see in turn an opportunity to achieve a majority.

Republicans now announce already fierce resistance against the nomination. The leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, thinks that an appointment can only be ratified by the next president. Quot; The American people should have a voice in the selection of the judge in the Supreme Court , said McConnell.

Republican Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Legal Committee in the Senate, argued that it is common in the last eighty years to appoint a new chief justice in a presidential election year.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton urged all to Obama's speech a rapid succession of Scalia. The shifting of the appointment process until after the presidential election would dishonor the Constitution, says Clinton.

Republican presidential candidates are not with Obama and Clinton agreed. Quot; Delay, delay, delay , said Donald Trump Saturday night at a debate. John Kasich called the president on now time to put the national interest first place .