Justice Antonin Scalia Dies, McConnell Immediately Vows to Block Any Obama Nominee

On February 13, 2016, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died of apparent natural causes at a luxury resort in West Texas, creating a vacancy on the Court with nearly 11 months remaining in President Obama’s term. Within hours of Scalia’s death being announced, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued an unprecedented statement declaring that the Senate would refuse to consider any nominee submitted by President Obama, asserting that “this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.” McConnell’s immediate blockade—announced before Obama had even named a nominee and 293 days before the 2016 election—marked an extraordinary departure from constitutional norms and Senate precedent, denying a sitting president the opportunity to fulfill his constitutional duty to fill a Supreme Court vacancy.

McConnell’s Immediate Blockade

McConnell’s statement on February 13 established the rationale that would define Republican obstruction for the next ten months: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.” This reasoning was historically unprecedented—never before had the Senate refused to even consider a Supreme Court nominee based solely on the timing of a presidential election year. McConnell’s strategy was explicitly designed to preserve the Court’s conservative majority by preventing Obama from replacing the conservative Scalia with a more liberal justice. As Jack Goldsmith, U.S. assistant attorney general during the George W. Bush administration, explained: “If you replace Scalia with an Obama appointee, then you probably have five justices on the court that are going to move the court in a much more progressive direction.”

Constitutional Responsibilities Abandoned

The Constitution grants the President the power to nominate Supreme Court justices “by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate.” Historically, the Senate’s role had been to evaluate nominees on their qualifications and judicial philosophy through hearings and votes—not to categorically refuse consideration based on partisan electoral strategy. McConnell’s blockade abandoned this constitutional framework entirely. NPR’s Nina Totenberg characterized McConnell’s approach as “unprecedented,” despite his attempts to claim historical precedent. The Congressional Research Service would later note that the 293-day period between Scalia’s death and the end of Obama’s term represented the longest Supreme Court vacancy since 1862—a vacancy deliberately prolonged by Senate obstruction rather than any difficulty in finding a qualified nominee.

The Stakes and Long-Term Impact

McConnell’s gamble succeeded because he correctly calculated that voters would not punish Republicans for the obstruction and that Trump might win the presidency, allowing Republicans to fill the seat with a conservative justice. The immediate blockade of any Obama nominee set in motion a chain of events that would fundamentally transform the Supreme Court: Scalia’s seat would eventually be filled by Neil Gorsuch in 2017 after McConnell eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees; Brett Kavanaugh would be confirmed despite credible sexual assault allegations in 2018; and Amy Coney Barrett would be rushed through confirmation just days before the 2020 election despite Republicans’ 2016 insistence that voters should decide. McConnell’s February 13, 2016 statement—issued within hours of Scalia’s death—represented the opening move in the most consequential theft of judicial power in modern American history.

Significance

McConnell’s immediate blockade of any Obama Supreme Court nominee within hours of Scalia’s death marked a constitutional crisis and the beginning of the most brazen judicial power grab in modern American history. By refusing to allow Obama to exercise his constitutional authority to fill a vacancy 293 days before an election, McConnell established a precedent he would immediately abandon in 2020 when rushing through Barrett’s confirmation just 46 days before that year’s election. The February 13 statement revealed McConnell’s strategy with perfect clarity: constitutional principles, Senate precedent, and democratic legitimacy would all be subordinated to the raw pursuit of conservative judicial power. Scalia’s death and McConnell’s instant obstruction set in motion events that would create a 6-3 conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court—a majority that would overturn Roe v. Wade, grant presidents sweeping immunity, eliminate Chevron deference, and systematically dismantle progressive precedents for decades to come.