title:  This Republican Actually Supports Obama In Finding Scalia’s Replacement – Here’s Why (VIDEO)
text: It was only hours after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia s death was confirmed that Senate Republicans threatened to block any nominee that President Barack Obama might try to fill Scalia s seat with. Most notably, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz have spoken out against the president s obligation to nominate a replacement.But not every Republican is brainless, as one prominent GOPer verified on Monday in an interview with CNN s Chris Cuomo. Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General under George W. Bush, is speaking out against McConnell and the GOP to throw his support behind Obama. In the interview, Gonzales said: I know there s a big debate going on right now about whether or not Obama should nominate someone. From my perspective having worked at the White House and the Department of Justice, there s just no question in my mind that as president of the United States, you have an obligation to fill a vacancy. Gonzales continued, giving Republicans a not-so-subtle hint to get the hell out of Obama s way and let him do what he was elected to do. I suspect President Obama is going to do his job. And after he does his job and nominating a hopefully qualified individual, the Senate will do its job eventually on its own calendar. The bottom line from my perspective, is the president has to do his job in nominating a qualified individual and then the Senate does it s job in assessing whether or not this person is qualified for a lifetime appointment on the court based upon experience, based upon ideology and based upon integrity. Clearly disappointed in the circus his party has become, Gonzales leveled the GOP and slammed the hypocrisy of his conservative colleagues in trying to prevent Obama from seeking a nominee. He said: If the shoe were on the other foot, and there was a Republican in the White House and democratically controlled Congress, I would expect the Republican president to make a nomination when ready. You can watch Gonzales in action below:One of the GOP s nominee-blocking tactics has been to claim that Obama can t fill a Supreme Court seat in an election year   which is completely false. SCOTUSblog specifically says that there is no tradition of leaving a Supreme Court seat vacant because of an election year: The historical record does not reveal any instances since at least 1900 of the president failing to nominate and/or the Senate failing to confirm a nominee in a presidential election year because of the impending election. Whether the Senate Republicans like it or not, Obama is determined to choose a nominee next week. Featured image from video screen capture