President Obama could nominate a successor to Justice Antonin Scalia as soon as next week when the Senate returns from a week-long recess, the White House said Monday.
And while the White House is not engaging in the parlor game of short-listing candidates, t he process is already moving forward.
The White House has already had discussions with senators from both parties, "a s ignal that we plan on conducting robust engagement in this process," White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz told reporters travelling with the president in Rancho Mirage, Calif. .
White House aides were dropping no hints as to who the president would nominate, other than to look at his previous two Supreme Court nominees: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.