Obama, Senate have constitutional duty on Supreme Court vacancy: Sen. Leahy

Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and the U.S. Senate have a constitutional duty to nominate and confirm a Supreme Court justice to fill the vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said on Saturday. "The Supreme Court of the United States is too important to our democracy for it to be understaffed for partisan reasons. It is only February," Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said in a statement. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton Editing by W Simon)