Court vacancy viewed as a civil-rights issue

WASHINGTON - President Obama's impending standoff with Republicans over filling a Supreme Court vacancy in the final months of his term is matter of civil rights and respect for the first African American president, black leaders said Thursday, as they ratcheted up pressure on the Senate to consider a nominee.

At a White House meeting on criminal justice issues, leaders from civil-rights groups told Obama they would work together to support him and marshal the public backing he'll need to force a nominee through the GOP-led Senate. The pledge of solidarity was just the latest sign of outside groups on both sides of the fight gearing up to mobilize ahead of what is likely to be a long and drawn-out election-year battle over his still unnamed choice.

"We see it as a civil-rights violation for them to in any way impair the Constitution of this country and to act as if the president is anything less than the president of the United States until January 20, 2017," the Rev. Al Sharpton told reporters after the private meeting. "He cannot be minimalized, marginalized or disregarded without doing the same to the American people."

Sharpton's sentiment captured long-held suspicions among African Americans that Obama has faced greater political opposition and public disrespect because of his race. Sharpton said Obama should not be "profiled any different than any other president in American history."

He said the groups, which included his National Action Network, the NAACP and the National Urban League, told the president they "collectively would resist" a Senate attempt to prevent Obama from filling the seat left open by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he believes the next president should pick Scalia's successor. McConnell argues the electorate should have a say in who holds the lifetime appointment, which could shift the ideological tilt of the court for a generation.

The possibility of Republicans blocking a hearing on a nominee has riled the Democratic base and ensured that whomever Obama chooses will become an election-year cause celebre.

Leaders in the meeting Thursday said they did not press Obama on specific names.