John Yoo: 'If You Want to Honor' Scalia, Don't Let Obama Pick His Successor

The best way to pay tribute to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died suddenly over the weekend, is to replace him with an ideological twin, former deputy assistant attorney general John Yoo tells Newsmax TV.

"If you want to honor Justice Scalia, don't allow President Obama to appoint someone to his seat who will stand for everything against which Justice Scalia fought," Yoo, a law professor at UC Berkeley, said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."

"President Obama's very views about the Constitution — he seems to think about the Constitution as an obstacle to get over on his way to some progressive paradise. Justice Scalia would not want someone of President Obama's constitutional needs to fill his seat."

Watch Newsmax TV on DirecTV Ch. 349, DISH Ch. 223 and Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system — Click Here Now

Within hours of Scalia’s death, Republican lawmakers vowed to block any replacement candidates put forward by Obama, saying the nation’s next president should make the choice.

"There's nothing wrong with the Senate choosing just to delay the hearings or delay the appointment until the next president. The appointments clause doesn't say anything about a constitutional responsibility or duty of the Senate to vote," Yoo said.

"It actually just says the president can appoint justices with the advice and consent of the Senate. It doesn't say that the Senate has to give it in a timely manner or not.

"This is actually one of the tools that the framers talk about as a weapon that the Congress can use against the executive branch if it disagrees with the president. There's nothing wrong with it."

Related Stories:

• Scalia's Death Saves Unions From Momentous Ruling Ending Political Power
• Scalia's Death Raises Questions About Court's Unreleased Rulings