February 17, 2016 The Skanner Page 9
News
Obama Chides Senators to
Vote on Court Pick
AP PHOTO/JIM MONE, FILE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President
Barack Obama is challenging Republi-
cans to live up to their avowed adher-
ence for the Constitution and agree to
vote on his nominee to replace the late
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
A key Republican is leaving the door
open to taking the fi rst step.
In this Oct. 20, 2015 fi le photo, Supreme Court
Justice Antonin Scalia speaks at the University of
Minnesota in Minneapolis. White House lawyers
are scouring a life’s worth of information about
President Barack Obama’s potential picks for the
Supreme Court, ranging from the mundane to the
intensely personal. In replacing the late Justice
Antonin Scalia, the president could alter the
balance of the court for decades, but only if he can
get his nominee through Republicans in the Senate.
Despite widespread GOP insistence
that he leave the decision to the next
president, Obama said Tuesday he had
no intention of abdicating his responsi-
bilities before leaving offi ce early next
year. He chidingly told the Senate he
expects “them to do their job as well.”
“The Constitution is pretty clear
about what’s supposed to happen now,”
Obama said before returning to Wash-
ington from California.
Fallout from Scalia’s unexpected
death overshadowed Obama’s two days
of summitry with Southeast Asian
leaders. Obama pledged to nominate a
candidate “indisputably” qualifi ed, but
Republican leaders have threatened to
refuse to hold hearings or a vote on his
pick to replace the conservative Scalia.
Yet there were hints that at least some
Republicans might come around. Sen-
ate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grass-
ley, R-Iowa, said he would wait “until
the nominee is made before I would
make any decision” about holding
hearings, boosting White House hopes
for getting a third justice confi rmed on
Obama’s watch.
GOP Candidates in High-
Stakes Match in S.C.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Jeb Bush,
John Kasich and Marco Rubio are
locked in a high-stakes political chess
match in South Carolina, strategically
moving money and other campaign re-
sources around in a bid to pull ahead
in the Republican primary race — or
at least keep their campaigns afl oat if
they don’t.
The maneuvering comes as some Re-
publican leaders fear Donald Trump or
Ted Cruz will begin piling up the dele-
gates needed to secure the nomination
before one of the more traditional can-
didates can concentrate the support
of voters turned off by the brash bil-
lionaire and fi ery Texas senator, who
so-called establishment Republicans
AP PHOTO/JEFF CHIU, FILE-POOL
World News Briefs
In this Oct. 20, 2014 fi le-pool photo, Supreme Court
Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks at San Jose State
University in San Jose, Calif. White House lawyers
are scouring a life’s worth of information about
President Barack Obama’s potential picks for
the Supreme Court, ranging from the mundane
to the intensely personal. In replacing the late
Justice Antonin Scalia, the president could alter
the balance of the court for decades, but only if
he can get his nominee through Republicans in
the Senate. All told, Sotomayor’s questionnaire
response totaled more than 5,000 pages.
believe could jeopardize the party’s
chances of winning in November’s gen-
eral election.
“We do need to get the fi eld down
to Trump, Cruz and somebody,” said
Henry Barbour, a Republican National
Committee heavyweight from Missis-
sippi. “New Hampshire tried, but it’s
clear as mud.”
Indeed, the only thing that is clear
heading into Saturday’s South Carolina
primary appears to be Trump’s grip on
the lead. Cruz, the winner of the Iowa
caucuses, is expected to do well.
But the more mainstream lane popu-
lated by Bush, Kasich and Rubio is more
jumbled. Bush’s campaign now sees an
opening to capitalize on Rubio’s fi ft h-
place fi nish in New Hampshire, while
Kasich’s strong second-place showing
there has given him reason to keep his
campaign going. Rubio’s team, mean-
while, is quietly confi dent that South
Carolina will prove to be a comeback
story for the Florida senator.
Apple Resisting Order to
Share iPhone Information
WASHINGTON (AP) — Apple Inc.
CEO Tim Cook says his company will
fi ght a federal magistrate’s order to
hack its users in connection with the
investigation of the San Bernardino,
California shootings, asserting that
would undermine encryption by cre-
ating a backdoor that could potentially
be used on other future devices.
Cook’s ferocious response, posted
early Wednesday on the company’s
website, came aft er an order from U.S.
Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym that Ap-
ple Inc. help the Obama administra-
tion break into an encrypted iPhone
belonging to one of the shooters in the
December attack.
The fi rst-of-its-kind ruling was a sig-
nifi cant victory for the Justice Depart-
ment in a technology policy debate that
pits digital privacy against national se-
curity interests.
Noting the order Tuesday from feder-
al Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym in Cali-
fornia, Cook said “this moment calls for
public discussion, and we want our cus-
tomers and people around the country
to understand what is at stake.”
Cook argued that the order “has im-
plications far beyond the legal case at
hand.”
See WORLD NEWS on page 10
An Evening with Famed Author and Professor
DR. MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
presented by PORTLAND PRIME in honor of BLACK HISTORY MONTH
MONDAY FEB. 22, 2016 • 5:30PM
121 SW 3RD AVE, PORTLAND, OR 97204
Dinner & Wine: $80 per person
We are also honoring
Judge Adrienne Nelson of the
Multnomah County Circut Court,
the second African American
female judge to be appointed
in the state of Oregon
MC Robin Givins
(503) 223-6200 • PortlandPrime.net
Prime Steaks & Entertainment