KAREN BLEIER via Getty Images
It took only a few minutes after news broke of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's death on Saturday for conservatives to demand that Senate Republicans block any replacement nominated by President Barack Obama.
It took just a little while more for Republican leadership to agree with them.
In a swift statement designed to warn Barack Obama against even nominating a replacement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pledged to sit on his hands for the remaining 11 months of the president's term.
"The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice," the statement read. "Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President."
McConnell's reaction makes it incredibly hard to envision Obama filling the Supreme Court vacancy created by Scalia's death. The majority leader has large control the floor of the Senate. And on this front, he is being cheered on by the conservative faction of his party.
