Justice Antonin Scalia, Known For Biting Dissents, Dies At 79

[Martin Alvito]

Republicans want a replacement as far right as Scalia though.

That can't happen unless the Republicans win the White House in November and hold the Senate. Justices such as Burger, Rehnquist and Thomas getting confirmed by the opposition are rarities, and would likely never happen in today's highly charged partisan environment with respect to the Court.

Under divided government, justices like Brennan, Blackmun, Stevens and Souter (where the nominating party doesn't get what it was after in part or even in full) are much more likely to result.

The sharp-eyed among you may notice that all of these examples happened under Republican presidents, but this is because no Democratic president in the last hundred years has had to fill a Supreme Court vacancy when the Republicans controlled the Senate.

 

[classical_hero]

Republicans want a replacement as far right as Scalia though.

I just love how far right has become what it is. Scalia always said that he limited his decisions to the constitution. I'll gladly be called that if it means upholding the values of the constitution.

 

[Antilogic]

Let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing.

Agreed.

He has no chance of nominating anyone else, in my opinion. Sandoval is not "far-right" on really anything. He is pro-choice, he supports gay-marriage, he has been a huge supporter of renewable energies in Nevada, and he raised taxes. I am not saying he is the best choice (by any metric) but as I mentioned Obama has zero chance of nominating a real liberal. It's just not going to happen. I will take the moderate in place of Scalia any day.

Sandoval doesn't support gay marriage, he just said it's settled and let's move on. That doesn't mean jack if he's one of the nine dudes who decides what is settled and what isn't. This doesn't pass the sniff test.

 

[JollyRoger]

I just love how far right has become what it is. Scalia always said that he limited his decisions to the constitution. I'll gladly be called that if it means upholding the values of the constitution.

Scalia didn't limit his decisions to the Constitution.

 

[Cutlass]

I just love how far right has become what it is. Scalia always said that he limited his decisions to the constitution. I'll gladly be called that if it means upholding the values of the constitution.

Scalia never applied the Constitution. He hated it with a passion, and undermined it at every opportunity.

 

[Zkribbler]

The Republican Governor of Nevada Brian Sandoval is being considered. Pro-business/anti-labor, pro-environment, pro-choice, early on opposed Obamacare individual mandate but later accepted federal money for Medical patients, raised taxes.

 

[Antilogic]

I really think his moderate credentials are being overplayed, but oh well, c'est la vie.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I really think his moderate credentials are being overplayed, but oh well, c'est la vie.

Well, it is interesting that the White House is "vetting a number of potential nominees" and the only name that leaked out is this one...which conveniently has the Senate in a tizzy. I saw a Dem Senator today on CNN pointing out that the Republican leadership was desperately hoping to convince the President not to bother because the rank and file senate Republicans recognize what a poisonous pill they are being served.

His best line of attack was:

Pick any other duty assigned to the President by the constitution. Imagine President Obama saying "I just don't want to do that, so I think I'll leave it for the next guy." You know, I know, and everyone knows that McConnell and the rest of the Republicans in the Senate would be working a relay to keep that on Fox News 24/7 so they could scream their heads off.

 

[whyidie]

Great "made for The Onion" statements coming from Republicans as they dance around their "no hearings" stance.

Onion headline "Republican Senator makes reasonable comments about President".

Spoiler :

“It was a very congenial, interesting discussion. He’s a very bright man, I like him a lot. I don’t like some of the things that he does but you can’t help but like him as a person,” Hatch said. “I just listened. Really didn’t say hardly anything. He’s always been very nice to me.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/orrin-hatch-supreme-court-obama-219768#ixzz41FW3V82R

Spoiler :

“I’m always willing to sit down with the president. I respect the office, I respect the person that holds that office, regardless of whether I agree with them or not,” said Hatch, a former Judiciary Committee chairman.