Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate will not consider any nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia until after the next president takes office in January. McConnell, a Republican who has been a critic of Obama, stated that he will not even meet with the nominee chosen by Obama. The US Constitution gives the Senate the authority to approve or reject the president's Supreme Court pick. Republicans are hoping to delay the nomination in order to give the next president the opportunity to fill Scalia's seat, with the upcoming presidential election on November 8 playing a key role in their decision. McConnell stated that the nomination for the Supreme Court vacancy will be decided by the winner of the presidential election in the fall. Senate Republicans overwhelmingly believe that the current president should not fill the vacancy. Obama's nominee could potentially shift the court to the left, as Scalia's death left the court evenly split between liberals and conservatives. This intense battle over a Supreme Court vacancy has not been seen since the controversial nominations of Robert Bork in 1987 and Clarence Thomas in 1991 by Republican presidents. Obama has not yet revealed his pick for the vacancy. The White House and Senate Democrats criticized McConnell's position, with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid calling it extreme obstruction. Reid lamented the lack of compromise and rationality in current political discourse. McConnell and other Republican lawmakers have consistently opposed various initiatives by President Obama, such as the healthcare law, Iran nuclear deal, immigration policy, and climate change efforts. McConnell referenced a previous statement by Vice President Joe Biden to support his argument for Supreme Court inaction. McConnell pointed out that Biden, while serving as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman in 1992, advocated for delaying the consideration of Supreme Court nominees during an election year. Biden has since clarified that he was speaking in a hypothetical scenario as there was no Supreme Court vacancy at that time. McConnell's decision came after Chairman Chuck Grassley and other Republican members of the Judiciary Committee informed him in a letter that they would not be holding confirmation hearings. Grassley had previously indicated that hearings could potentially be scheduled. Republican senators, referring to the upcoming November 8 presidential election, expressed to McConnell their desire to ensure that the American people have the opportunity to participate in a thorough and vigorous discussion about the type of judge they want to handle important contemporary issues. If the Senate delays considering a nominee until a new president takes office, it is unlikely that the Supreme Court will have its full nine justices until early 2017. This would leave the court understaffed for over a year, affecting its ability to make decisions. Without a majority decision, lower-court rulings stand and no national precedent is established. Reid claimed that the Republican party's strategy is influenced by their right wing, specifically mentioning Donald Trump and Ted Cruz as presidential candidates. Reid stated that Senate Democrats would not be obstructing legislation, such as appropriations bills, in response to Republican inaction. White House spokesperson Josh Earnest warned that denying a hearing for Obama's nominee would be unprecedented and would introduce politics to the Supreme Court. McConnell mentioned that the Senate has the right to withhold consent for a nominee. Schumer believed that Republican senators would reconsider their stance under pressure from voters in upcoming elections. Schumer criticized the Senate Republicans' strategy as not just risky, but also wrong and bound to fail. On the other hand, Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican Judiciary Committee member, expressed that he is not worried about public pressure. He emphasized that they are standing for a principle that the next president should address the issue. Democrats are significantly outnumbered in the Senate, lacking the 60 votes required to push through contentious legislation or a Supreme Court nomination. With the two independents who align with them, Democrats hold 46 seats while Republicans hold the remaining 54.