Trying not to say the F-word

As lawmakers await President Barack Obama’s selection to fill the Supreme Court seat being vacated by retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, Democrats are stepping up their call for a speedy confirmation while Republicans are trying not to use the F-word — that is, filibuster — but remaining firm that the president must pick a mainstream candidate.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, ranking Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Jeff. Sessions was asked whether there would be big confirmation fight.

“The answer to that is in the president’s hands,” Sessions said. “If we have a nominee that evidences a philosophy of judges know best, … then we are going to have a big fight about that because the American people don’t want that.”

Meanwhile, fellow committee Republican Sen. Jon Kyl on ABC’s “This Week” called the most oft-mentioned potential candidates “nominally qualified.”

Kyl, who voted against the nomination of Justice Sonia Sotomayor last year, didn’t take the issue of filibuster off the table, but he downplayed the possibility.

“It is unlikely that here will be a filibuster unless its an extraordinary circumstance,” Kyl said, adding that “President Obama himself attempted to filibuster Justice [Samuel] Alito.” During the Sotomayor confirmation hearings last year, Republicans made much of Obama’s votes against Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Alito during their confirmation hearings.