Bernie Sanders said Republican plans to block a Supreme Court nominee would be "overtly political." | AP Photo Sanders: McConnell wrong on SCOTUS block

Democratic White House hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that Republicans would be wrong to block President Barack Obama’s eventual nominee for the Supreme Court.

“I just don’t think it looks good that for very overtly political reasons that the Republicans would deny this president the right to exercise his constitutional responsibility, which is to appoint members to the Supreme Court,” Sanders said on ABC’s “This Week."


“I don’t think the public would look kindly on Republican actions to try to flaunt what he is supposed to be able to do.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans have said they wanted to wait until after the presidential election before taking up a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, who died Saturday.

Republicans campaigning for the White House such as Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) said on Sunday the Senate should wait, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush deferred to McConnell.

“It’s up to Mitch McConnell,” Bush said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It’s really not important to me.”

Sanders said if he were president, he would not nominate a judge for the high court who wasn’t prepared to overturn the Citizens United decision he has criticized for allowing outsize campaign donations and spending.

The Senate’s second-ranked Democrat Charles Schumer of New York said on “This Week” that McConnell shouldn’t refuse a vote or hearings without knowing who Obama would nominate.

“This kind of obstructionism isn’t going to last,” Schumer said.