Daily Roundup - Feb 14, 2016 - Advice and Consent

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

As is clearly seen above, foreign affairs, treaties, and Supreme Court appointments are co-operative actions starting with the Senate as an advisor, and ending with the senate as consenting to the choice of the president after he received the advise.

 According to Wikipedia

Several framers of the U.S. Constitution believed that the required role of the Senate is to advise the President after the nomination has been made by the President. Roger Sherman believed that advice before nomination could still be helpful. Likewise, President George Washington took the position that pre-nomination advice was allowable but not mandatory. The notion that pre-nomination advice is optional has developed into the unification of the "advice" portion of the power with the "consent" portion, although several Presidents have consulted informally with Senators over nominations and treaties.

It is time that we went back to this "optional" use of the term advice and consent, and simply withdraw consent whenever the Senate has not been previously allowed to "advise" the president and have him work from a list of agreed candidates.  This would eliminate the need to wait for a new President while allowing the current one to have a say in who is selected to replace Scalia.