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Merged Scalia is dead

First, condolences to his family.

I would agree with ehcks - the Republicans cannot allow even the chance of appointing a liberal or even a liberal-leaning judge. No way are they going to confirm anyone, not in an election year. They'll take the hit of being accused of obstructionism (which has been an ongoing matter in the media for a while, thus the sting is lessened) rather than losing this battle.

For them, wait it out, hopefully have a Republican in the White House, who will send up someone more in line with their policies. Of course, if it ends up as Trump, who knows what would happen. Perhaps he'd nominate his daughter.
 
My suggestion is simple for Obama actually . . . . Nominate a reasonable Reagan appointee.
I think I might know the one too - John E. Jones III

Can use the argument that he was good enough for Reagan
 
Tricky said:
This is the same party that shut down the government before. I honestly don't think that would stop them. I think though that there must be a legal precedent that would prevent such actions. After all, Obama still has ten months (more than ten percent) of his term left.
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The legal precedent is the actual Constitution of the United States. The Senate is not Obama's rubber stamp.
 
I am so happy!

ETA: The headlines on his obituaries should read, "Scalia is dead, dead, dead, dead, dead!"
 
Traveler Steve said:
I would agree with ehcks - the Republicans cannot allow even the chance of appointing a liberal or even a liberal-leaning judge.
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The court is due to hear Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole March 2. How do you break a tie in the Supreme Court?

IMO it's pretty hard to tell what individual justices will do once they have the job for life. The Roberts court upheld marriage equality and the health insurance mandate. Trying to pack the court is risky business.
 
I'm sorry but I am glad. That man said it was OK to execute an innocent person as long as they had due process and was found guilty. I'm not going to pretend I am not happy with this.

Ding dong the witch is dead.
 
If they stall until President Hillary/Bernie takes over wouldn't it be delicious if they then nominated Obama himself!
 
Travis said:
I wasn't aware he was sick or anything. Seemed he was just hearing arguments not too long ago.
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It was sudden, he'd been hunting or something. Heart attack, most likely. I doubt it was a stroke.


They are saying died in his sleep.
 
Minoosh said:
The court is due to hear Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole March 2. How do you break a tie in the Supreme Court?

IMO it's pretty hard to tell what individual justices will do once they have the job for life. The Roberts court upheld marriage equality and the health insurance mandate. Trying to pack the court is risky business.
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My understanding is that ties mean that the lower court stands. I wonder if Kennedy might not lean a bit more to the left without Scalia on the court however.
 
Yeah, I noticed that. I'm having a hard time resisting jumping up and shouting for joy. I don't wish death on anyone, but this guy did some serious damage to US law.
 
I think in terms of real politics the Senate will have to have fairly solid grounds in order to reject a nominee. I think they will have to accept a nominee sooner or later because political pressure will build demanding it. Further, so long as the nominee seems qualified I think a lot of the moderate Republicans will be willing to accept them. There are still many Republicans who agree with the traditional rule of Congress: When I'm President you approve my guy. When you're President I'll approve yours.
 
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Well, it's sad that he died as a person and I would offer my condolences to his family, but it's hard to be unhappy that he's no longer in a position of power by being part of the Supreme Court. It seemed like all I really heard about him, as a person who doesn't follow the Supreme Court closely, was that he let personal beliefs and bias play a significant role in his decisions, that he employed notably fallacious logic all too frequently, that there were rather notable concerns about conflicts of interest when it came to a number of his decisions, and so on.
 
For those wondering, in case of a tie vote in the SCOTUS, the lower court ruling stands without a new precedent being set (meaning a similar issue could be appealed to the SCOTUS at a later date). So even if the Republican party does its obstructionism and prevents Obama from nominating someone, it is likely that it won't hurt much in terms of current cases before the court. Most controversial issues would end up 4-4 now that Scalia isn't there anymore. Long term it could be bad if a republican is elected to president, but I see the odds of that happening are pretty poor at this time.

I'd put a bet down that Obama won't get a nominee selected before he leaves.
 
I cannot bring myself to ever be happy about the death of a human being, no matter how horrible he was in life. However, I acknowledge that this is an opportunity for someone to be appointed to the Supreme Court who is not a horrible human being, and who perhaps has some understanding of modern society and isn't a product of 1940s morality.
 
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