Will the GOP Support Original Intent?

Lately, I have enjoyed John Fea’s blog more than ever. He has been crushing it when it comes to his posts on the GOP presidential race.
In light of the sad news of the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, Fea wonders if Ted Cruz will honor the intent of the Constitution for a sitting president to appoint a new justice to the Court.

According to Article 2 of the Constitution, the President of the United States is responsible for the appointment of Supreme Court justices.  If I understand the original intent of the Constitution, this is to be done by a sitting president, not a future president.  Unless I am missing something, Barack Obama is the sitting president of the United States.  He still has about 25% of his term left.

So I guess I don’t understand the argument that Cruz and McConnell are making.  The framers of the Constitution did not say that the people have a direct role in choosing Supreme Court justices.  They have an indirect role.  In other words, the people elect the POTUS (well, technically the Electoral College does, but we won’t go down that road right now) and the POTUS picks the justices.  In 2012, the American people chose Barack Obama as POTUS.

I don’t see how someone like Cruz–a defender of “original intent”–can see this any other way.  Unless, of course, Cruz and McConnell think it is OK for politics to trump original intent.

I am with Fea here. I don’t understand how Cruz can claim to be a Constitutionalist and not defend President Obama’s right and obligation to make the appointment.

Antonin Scalia, RIP