Thread: Scalia is dead

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/us...lia-death.html

An unfortunate passing, as the Supreme Court benefited greatly from Scalia's judicial rigor. I can only hope whoever replaces him can fill those shoes.

R.I.P.

A huge political shift could be in store for our nation, as Obama now gets to appoint a younger liberal justice, and an elected Democratic president in the next term would likely be appointing 2 or 3 more, giving a liberal advantage to the Executive and Judicial branches. Come 2017 republicans could have their backs against the wall if a democratic advantage can be turned in the senate. If Bernie Sanders is elected, you can count on him facing the staunchest of opposition from the legislative branch in a republican majority senate, but if overturned he might actually have the numbers to get some traction on some of his plans. Hillary would likely face similar opposition, though nothing about her platform is as radically different from the status quo as Bernie's platform is. On the other hand, a republican president would replace the impending retiring justices with younger set of republican justices, likely giving a republican advantage to all 3 branches of the political system, resulting in a landslide overturning of anything Obama has done in the last 8 years. I suppose any election in recent years has been a pivotal one in shaping our nation's modern developments, but I really feel as though the impact of this next election will solidify the course our nation heads down in terms of our rapidly changing foreign policy, our stance on immigration and amnesty, and our economic system including health care.

Granted, things are still very much in the air - and nobody knows what the political race could look like. The only given is that whichever party wins the white house will determine the majority in the Supreme Court in the next term.

Originally Posted by Allane

An unfortunate passing, as the Supreme Court benefited greatly from Scalia's judicial rigor. I can only hope whoever replaces him can fill those shoes.

My thoughts exactly. Ive pretty much lost faith in humanity after reading the comments left by those that either did not agree with his rulings, or simply have no idea how our republic works, nor the role of the SCOTUS in it. Few events have revealed such hatred and narrow mindedness in the average person. Hell, people on my rather short FB list have revealed themselves to be at least as bigoted as they claimed Scalia to be.

Republican governor of Nevada Brian Sandoval being considered for Supreme Court

Originally Posted by AetheLove

No, he wasn't.

We now know that he wouldn't have accepted it anyway, but even back when it was... what? leaked? announced? speculated? ... back then it was still not going to happen. Maybe it was a good way to test the waters of public sentiment, but it's hard to imagine a loyal republican - even one with real aspirations to the court - accepting. McConnell already drew his line in the sand.

It's hard for me to imagine anyone accepting the nomination. Who would accept it now? It'd have to be a pretty special person. They'd have to be willing to take part in a process that was poisoned before it even got started.

It makes me pretty sad, actually. This just another example of how dysfunctional things are.


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Or maybe it's an example of just how functional things actually are. Maybe the fact that neither side can ram an extreme candidate down our gullets is an example of our system working for us. I guess we'll see.

One thing is for sure, it will get VERY interesting. Neither side is guaranteed to have either Congress or the W House come November, so the gamesmanship is going to get intense. If we get another split, we'll see an absolutely thourough vetting of a more centrist type candidate, but if one side owns both the Congress and the W House, we'll see a much more partisan candidate.

I feel sorry for whoever Barry puts up, but I do hope he puts one up. Not only is it his duty, but with the Pubs controlling Congress, it's more likely he would find someone more centrist/mainstream (if for nothing else but to make the Pubs look bad for blocking a decent candidate). It would be funny if the Pubs blocked a Centrist only to lose Congress and the W House and have the seat filled by a hardcore liberal.

They certainly could be. Gamesmanship is afoot for sure.

The Repubs are doubling-down on their November bet. That could certainly blow up in their faces. If they lose Congress without gaining the W House, they lose ALL power in the matter. Even with a push (Dems in WHouse and Repubs controlling Congress), they need to get it done withing the two years or heavily risk losing Congress.

Barry is a two-term lame duck with less than a year left, and we are smack-dab in the middle of a Presidential election season. No matter what MCconnell spins, it would be a tough time to get ANY kind of real debating or deal making going on for either side. That is much too big of a football to be played while we are already in the middle of the Super Bowl of politics.

Look at it this way.....Would it be better if the Dems controlled Congress? Would you feel better if Barry put someone up and he was quickly confirmed before the election? I know I wouldn't. For either side. Sometimes our system is designed to make it really hard to get things done....because it's in our best interest.

Originally Posted by dex71

They certainly could be. Gamesmanship is afoot for sure.

The Repubs are doubling-down on their November bet. That could certainly blow up in their faces. If they lose Congress without gaining the W House, they lose ALL power in the matter. Even with a push (Dems in WHouse and Repubs controlling Congress), they need to get it done withing the two years or heavily risk losing Congress.

Barry is a two-term lame duck with less than a year left, and we are smack-dab in the middle of a Presidential election season. No matter what MCconnell spins, it would be a tough time to get ANY kind of real debating or deal making going on for either side. That is much too big of a football to be played while we are already in the middle of the Super Bowl of politics.

Look at it this way.....Would it be better if the Dems controlled Congress? Would you feel better if Barry put someone up and he was quickly confirmed before the election? I know I wouldn't. For either side. Sometimes our system is designed to make it really hard to get things done....because it's in our best interest.

I agree about the gamesmanship. To some degree, that's always the case - it's politics after all.

But this felt like a whole level up. To me, it passed the threshold of 'hard nosed' and easily passed into 'dysfunction'.

I suppose it's possible that they lose control of Congress (or, pertinent to this issue, the Senate), but I haven't heard that anything like that is likely. There are a lot of Repub Senate seats up this year, but last I saw the vast majority of them are pretty safe. Is anyone seriously predicting a majority shift in the Senate?

[538 let me down this time - I couldn't even find a senate model on their site. I miss the old blog]

... and anyway, if they're worried about losing control of the Senate, why delay? Why not use the majority while they have it? I think they're not worried about it at all.

I think it's still early enough for the President to nominate someone without stepping on precedent or propriety. We're not in the middle of the Super Bowl of politics. We don't even know who the nominees are. These are the playoffs, and not even the semis.

You ask interesting questions. Would it be better if the Dems controlled Congress? I don't know. In this case, I don't think it matters.

Would I feel better if Obama put someone up and it was a quick confirmation? No. I don't care about quick. I'd feel better if Obama nominated someone and the Senate held hearings. I'd feel just fine if Obama put away his dream candidate and took a realistic approach. Maybe I'd even like that better.

Yeah, if the Dems controlled the Senate and Obama nominated someone in September and they shoved a vote through before the election - yeah, that'd be shitty. I like that it's a partisan process. I like that the minority in the Senate still has some power to delay. But that's not what's going on.

This isn't partisanship. It's 'fuck you'. This politicizes the court even more. This is literally abdicating responsibility. They are literally refusing to do their job.

I agree with you that sometimes getting things done is hard by design, and that can be a good thing. But I don't think this is one of those times.


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