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 The Republican Party's move to create a task force to coordinate
advertising and other steps to assail Obama's nominee to fill the
vacancy left by the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin
Scalia is the latest indication that the political fight could
become very nasty.
"It's clear what Republicans are planning to do," White House
spokesman Josh Earnest said. "They are planning to tear down the
president's nominee, without regard to who that person is."
The Republican National Committee said the task force will contract
and team up with America Rising Squared, a conservative group, in
the effort.
"This will be the most comprehensive judicial response effort in our
party's history," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement.
"If the president wants to break with decades of precedent by
pushing through a nominee in an election year, we’re going to vet
that person and put their real record on display," Priebus said.
Earnest declined to say when Obama would announce his choice to fill
the vacancy, beyond saying it would not be on Monday.
 The Republicans who control the Senate have vowed not to hold
confirmation hearings or an up-or-down vote on anyone Obama picks,
saying the choice should belong to the next president who takes
office in January after the Nov. 8 presidential election.
The nomination requires Senate confirmation.
HIGH STAKES
The stakes are high, as Obama's selection could pivot the
nine-member court to the left for the first time in decades.
In an interview with CNN Espanol that aired on Monday, Obama said he
will make his decision "soon." He said he is looking for someone
with "impeccable credentials" who "should be a consensus candidate."
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid denounced on the Senate floor
what he called a "smear" campaign against federal appeals court
judge Jane Kelly, who had been on Obama's short list of potential
nominees.
Sources familiar with the selection process said on Friday Kelly was
not among the final three under consideration, federal appeals court
judges Sri Srinivasan, Merrick Garland and Paul Watford.
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Reid was referring to an ad campaign mounted by a conservative
activist group called the Judicial Crisis Network referring to Kelly
as a "a liberal extremist" with a "disturbing background." It cited
her prior work as a public defender in Iowa for a man charged with
possessing child pornography who was later convicted of first-degree
murder and sexual assault in the death of his former girlfriend's
5-year-old daughter.
The group, in a news release, called the ads the next phase of its
"national campaign to educate and inform the public about what’s at
stake in filling the Supreme Court vacancy."
Reid referred to the group as "a dark money, right-wing political
organization that operates in total secrecy."
"The accusations leveled against Judge Kelly are despicable," Reid
said, calling on Iowa's U.S. senators including Republican Chuck
Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee who in the past
praised Kelly, to denounce to the group's charges.
The Senate voted to confirm Kelly to her current position in 2013 in
a 96-0 vote.
Obama administration lawyers continued to review the legal opinions
of three finalists, weighing whether elements could become a
flashpoint for opponents on the right or even the left. The current
finalists generally are considered more moderate than liberals in
the tradition of Obama's two previous appointments, Sonia Sotomayor
and Elena Kagan.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Jeff Mason, Lawrence Hurley
and Eric Beech; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Cynthia Osterman,
Bernard Orr)
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