WASHINGTON—After President Obama announced his intention to carry out his constitutional responsibility to nominate a new Supreme Court Justice following the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement calling on Senate Republicans to fulfill their constitutional obligation and take up the president’s eventual nominee:

“The president is exactly right – just as Ronald Reagan was right when he urged a Democratic Senate to confirm his Supreme Court nominee in the final year of his presidency. When there’s a vacancy on the Supreme Court, the president nominates a new justice to be confirmed by the United States Senate. This is the process laid out in our Constitution, which we all swore to uphold,” said Murphy. “People in Connecticut expect us to do our jobs without regard for politics or campaigns. So I urge my Republican colleagues to put the grandstanding on hold and proceed with the normal confirmation process once a nominee is named.”

“If Congress begins abdicating our constitutional responsibilities in even-numbered years, where does it end? What other parts of the job will Republicans ignore for purely political reasons?” Murphy asked.