Senator Grassley: 'standard practice' to wait on Court nominee

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama should not nominate a Supreme Court justice to fill the vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia, U.S. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Saturday.

"The fact of the matter is that it’s been standard practice over the last 80 years to not confirm Supreme Court nominees during a presidential election year," Grassley said in a statement.

"Given the huge divide in the country, and the fact that this president, above all others, has made no bones about his goal to use the courts to circumvent Congress and push through his own agenda, it only makes sense that we defer to the American people who will elect a new president to select the next Supreme Court Justice," Grassley said.

Scalia's death was first reported by the San Antonio News-Express, which said he had apparently died of natural causes while visiting a luxury resort in West Texas.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Matthew Lewis)