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Obama expects Supreme Court vacancies

President Barack Obama suggested to supporters Monday that he's likely to have the chance to nominate new justices to the Supreme Court before he is set to leave office in 2017.

Taking a break from his Martha's Vineyard vacation to speak to a Democratic Senate Campaign Committee fundraiser on the island, Obama appeared to be predicting that there will be vacancies on the Supreme Court soon, though he did not indicate a specific time frame. He implored the guests to work to keep the Senate in Democratic control so that Democratic nominees won't be obstructed by Republicans.

"What’s preventing us from getting things done right now is you’ve got a faction within the Republican Party that thinks solely in terms of their own ideological purposes and solely in terms of how do they hang on to power. And that’s a problem. And that’s why I need a Democratic Senate," Obama told donors gathered at a home in Tisbury, Mass. "Not to mention the fact that we’re going to have Supreme Court appointments, and there are going to be a whole host of issues that many people here care about that are going to be determined by whether or not Democrats retain the Senate."

No Supreme Court justice has announced plans to retire. The court's oldest member, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 81, said last month that she plans to stand on the court "for a while" and suggested she might like to remain on the court for a couple more years. The next oldest justices are Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, both 78.

No justice is known to have serious health problems at the moment, although Ginsburg has battled cancer and other ailments in recent years.

Asked whether the president has specific indications that Supreme Court retirements are imminent, a White House spokesperson suggested that Obama was speaking in general terms and wasn't trying to convey any insider knowledge about the justices' intentions or health.

"The president's comments were meant to convey the important role the Senate would play in the event of a Supreme Court vacancy," said the White House official, who asked not to be named.

When Senate Democrats reined in the filibuster last year for most judgeships and executive branch nominations, Senate leaders left the filibuster intact for Supreme Court nominations, meaning that a nominee could potentially be blocked if he or she had less than 60 votes. However, Republicans noted that the Democrats (who currently have 55-45 control of the chamber) could use the same procedure to end the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, allowing them to be confirmed with just 50 votes.

UPDATE (Monday, 9:28 P.M.): This post has been updated with White House comment and to indicate that Obama did not explicitly discuss a time frame for any vacancies.