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Obama is going to get to nominate a justice before he leaves office, removing one of the most Conservative justices for one more moderate or liberal.

Look for the Senate to drag their feet like children throwing a tantrum.

Dave said:

Obama is going to get to nominate a justice before he leaves office, removing one of the most Conservative justices for one more moderate or liberal.

Look for the Senate to drag their feet like children throwing a tantrum.

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Dems only need 5-6 Republicans to force a vote and confirm. Now is the time to find out who is buyable because it is time to CASH IN.

According to Ted Cruz, it's their duty to reject all noms by Obama no matter what.

Nice of him to look out for Hillary I suppose.

Frank said:

According to Ted Cruz, it's their duty to reject all noms by Obama no matter what.

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McConnell and several other republicans have jumped on that bandwagon, too.

The Onion NAILS it: Justice Scalia found dead after 30-year battle with Social Progress.

WasabiPoptart said:

McConnell and several other republicans have jumped on that bandwagon, too.

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"The American people‎ should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President.”

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They fucking did when they elected the current president.

All I can really say, is that clearly the current political year was not full enough of clownshoes.

Drag their feet for eleven months during an election year?

I don't think they can hold out.

Zero Esc said:

Drag their feet for eleven months during an election year?

I don't think they can hold out.

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Really? You don't think the Republican senators that are actually up for re-election won't use it as a rallying point for their base?

Dave said:

Look for the Senate to drag their feet like children throwing a tantrum.

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I almost hope they do.
It'll hopefully make getting themselves reelected that much more difficult.

--Patrick

In tomorrow's news, Scalia's Death Overshadowed By Republican Fuckwits.

edit: And Democratic fuckwits. I hadn't seen their immediate calls to nominate. Let the guy have a day or two of peace before we dance on his grave.

Look at the Republican field right now. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are on top. The Republican senators up for reelection could act like angry cavemen and it will only boost their polls.

Are you suggesting they haven't already been doing so?

--Patrick

The reaction to his death, especially the way all the hyenas immediately began fighting over his corpse, is shameful. They couldn't even pretend to have some respect. The "us vs. them, win at all costs" mentality is sickening. This goes for every politician trying to take advantage of Scalia's death.

As for the man himself, I rarely ever agreed with him on anything. However, he helped shape the court, and this country, for 30 years. It's an impressive legacy.

Tress said:

The "us vs. them, win at all costs" mentality is sickening.

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...and has been for quite some time, regardless of Scalia's core body temperature.
If the arena politic didn't have so much impact on my life, I'd probably ignore it until attrition finally brought it to its senses.

--Patrick

Dei said:

Really? You don't think the Republican senators that are actually up for re-election won't use it as a rallying point for their base?

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I expect them to try, but the last time the Republicans tried to sit on something in order to have their way, it didn't last even one month.

It is pretty sick how so many of the politicians aren't waiting even a day to launch into attacks on the other side.

However, on that note, I do feel that a new justice should be appointed fairly quickly. We're hearing from certain folks that it should be left for the next president to appoint a justice. Yes, eleven months with an incomplete SC is what we need.

And now the conspiracy nuts are coming out: POTUS had Scalia killed.

WasabiPoptart said:

And now the conspiracy nuts are coming out: POTUS had Scalia killed.

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"Government is incompetent and a waste, except when they're doing illegal and immoral stuff, when they're suddenly efficient, practical, solid, and great organizers and good at keeping secrets".

I'm not at all surprised - as a conspiracy it makes sense - but most such conspiracy theories just fail because they assume a competent yet evil government. If they could keep crap like this under wraps, there wouldn't be a Benghazi or Wikileaks.

Anyway, if POTUS did it, he waited a month or two too long; there'd have been less contention a bit before the primaries. Government contractors, always behind schedule...

WasabiPoptart said:

And now the conspiracy nuts are coming out: POTUS had Scalia killed.

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Well... actually, Scalia being dead means that the Climate Change bill they were going to rule on is going to undergo a drastically different process: instead of being rejected 5-4 like they indicated, it's now 4-4 to even SEE IT so whatever the appealette court (full of Democrats) rules will stand unless the new judge is brought into the fold soon. I could see a legit conspiracy theory there... with Scalia gone, it'll pass through unchallenged. It's probably bullshit, but it's not like I couldn't see it happening ether.

I do have to say that I appreciated Trump's honesty about the nomination: that he'd appoint if he was president, and that saying it's a power grab's just hypocritical.

I blame the pelicans.

THIS is gonna be a fun political year.

I wish I could remember who wrote it, but someone on my Twitter timeline wrote (re: Scalia's death) something like, "If this election was a season of West Wing, you'd be going 'Come on.'"

Chad Sexington said:

I wish I could remember who wrote it, but someone on my Twitter timeline wrote (re: Scalia's death) something like, "If this election was a season of West Wing, you'd be going 'Come on.'"

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To be fair, didn't they actually replace an old conservative Justice during re-election on TWW? I'm not entirely sure anymore on the exact timeline, it's been a while...

Bubble181 said:

To be fair, didn't they actually replace an old conservative Justice during re-election on TWW? I'm not entirely sure anymore on the exact timeline, it's been a while...

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It's been a while for me too, but as far as I recall, they had three nominations for Supreme Court justices in the West Wing. The first one was Mendoza, who replaced a retiring liberal justice. The second and third were Lang and Mulready, a liberal and a conservative, who were deliberately sent to the Supreme Court at the same time in order to keep the peace between the Republicans and Democrats. I'm pretty sure none of them took place during a reelection campaign.

GasBandit said:

THIS is gonna be a fun political year.

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--Patrick

Dave said:

In tomorrow's news, Scalia's Death Overshadowed By Republican Fuckwits.

edit: And Democratic fuckwits. I hadn't seen their immediate calls to nominate. Let the guy have a day or two of peace before we dance on his grave.

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Pretty much this. Even if you absolutely detested the man (I certainly did), respect the dead and the office and give it a couple days before making a puppet of his corpse and making it dance for whichever side suits your fancy.

I will, however, miss his dissents. The man had a great command of sarcasm, and a lot of them were gold (see #1 and 5, here: http://www.cracked.com/article_19147_5-awesomely-sarcastic-supreme-court-decisions.html ).

WasabiPoptart said:

And now the conspiracy nuts are coming out: POTUS had Scalia killed.

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Man, an overweight 80 year old dying. What an unbelievable happening.

A man is dead! An influential judge
But damned if my positions budge!
I'm a politician true
This will certainly do
As yet another political kludge

Yeah, having flashbacks to 2007 here.

Dave said:

In tomorrow's news, Scalia's Death Overshadowed By Republican Fuckwits.

edit: And Democratic fuckwits. I hadn't seen their immediate calls to nominate. Let the guy have a day or two of peace before we dance on his grave.

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Fuck that old bastard.

GasBandit said:

Yeah, having flashbacks to 2007 here.

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But that is within the six month 'tradition,' not eleven months.

sixpackshaker said:

But that is within the six month 'tradition,' not eleven months.

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No, it was in 2007. Which was more than 12 months from the end of Bush's term, since 2008 was the election year. So it was even further out. It just ended up not becoming an issue because no further vacancies happened.

OK, just looked at July not the year.

sixpackshaker said:

OK, just looked at July not the year.

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Yeah, an easy mistake to make - I made it the first time I read the article, too, then realized "wait, this is 2007, whoa."