With Justice Scalia’s death leaving a gaping hole in our nation’s highest court, Senate Republicans have only one clear choice. In the midst of a highly charged presidential election, far better to let voters choose who should appoint our next Supreme Court justice than fight a bloody and fully partisan battle with President Obama over shifting the ideological balance of SCOTUS. So far, Republican leaders in the Senate have been very clear that they agree with this assessment, vowing that they will neither hold hearings nor votes on any nominee to replace Scalia this year.

The death of Justice Antonin Scalia sent shockwaves through the conservative movement, and everyone, regardless of their philosophic persuasion, is trying to figure out what the loss of this conservative icon means for the future of the Supreme Court and the Constitution. It is likely, however, that the answer will not come until November.

With the sudden, unexpected passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, the entire political world is in an uproar over the future of the Supreme Court. Democrats, as is to be expected, want president Obama to push through a nominee before he leaves office in January, fearing that a Republican victory in the presidential election will cost them a chance to shift the balance of the Court to the left. Meanwhile, Republicans appear determined to block any nomination this year, hoping that a Republican president in 2017 will be able to fill Scalia’s seat with a similarly-minded Justice. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already stated that he does not intend to hold a vote to confirm any Obama nominee.