Home » Now that Justice Scalia has died, what will Congress do?

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Now that Justice Scalia has died, what will Congress do? — 19 Comments

  1. The gloating of many on the hard left over this sad news, which bodes ill for the future of liberty in this country, provides all the proof necessary that leftists, who claim to be motivated by noble sentiments, are truly driven mostly by ignorance, envy, hatred and sheer lust for power and domination.

  2. “The Supreme Court is split between 4 liberal and 4 conservative justices and one swing justice.”

    With Scalia’s passing, it is now 3 conservative justices, 4 liberal justices and one swing justice.

    My impression is that Kennedy votes with the liberals far more often than with the conservatives. So, we now have 5 liberal justices and 3 conservative justices. And that’s only if Roberts votes conservative but even when Roberts does, now unless Kennedy also votes conservative, the liberals already have a liberal majority.

    So, say McConnell and the GOP holds firm. A republican President is elected. And then, in retaliation, the democrat minority blocks any appointment by the republicans… and continues to do so for the foreseeable future. Not caring a bit that there are only 8 justices… happy with their 5 to 3 majority.

  3. Cornhead Says:
    February 13th, 2016 at 7:04 pm

    And Mitch better not go wobbly now.

    OK, that right there was funny.

  4. One result of this death is a greater prominence of the Second Amendment in the general election campaigns.

  5. Conspiracy theory prediction: Obama makes no more than token attempts to push through a nomination, not really opening full-bore on the Republican Senate, indicating he’s resigned to not getting his appointment through as president. Meanwhile, he starts throwing himself full-bore behind Sanders, in exchange for the promise that Sanders will nominate Obama if he wins.

  6. I’m willing to believe that Scalia died of natural causes, until proven otherwise.

    But the conspiracy theorists are already out and about.

    No matter how he died, this really does look like a Franz Ferdinand moment for America. Forces are being set into motion that will be impossible to stop.

  7. McConnell quoted as saying the replacement will be appointed by the next President. We shall see.

  8. A tradition has grown up that a lame duck president in his last year should leave SCOTUS nominations to his successor.

    I remember LBJ being frustrated by that. When a vacancy occurred after he declined to run for re-election the Senate, even a Democratic Senate, made it plain that filling the seat would be left to the next president.

    Then, again, I may have it entirely wrong. It was a weird time. Johnson had previously tried to promote Abe Fortas from Associate Justice to Chief Justice and Fortas, running into ethics questions, not only wasn’t confirmed but ended up resigning altogether. Later Nixon resolved the confusion by replacing Chief Justice Earl Warren with Chief Justice Warren Earl (Burger).

  9. The Senate is in recess until the 23rd, so what’s to prevent Obama from making a recess appointment? I’m thinking he’ll install Valerie Jarrett.

  10. Notice McConnell’s statement is as fluffy and soft as a French Waffle?

    “The American people‎ should [SHOULD? NOT MUST?] have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should [SHOULD? NOT WILL?] not be filled until we have a new President.

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

  11. I am sure that Obama will nominate some communist who is a certified triple minority, e.g. gay, black, transsexual. The media will then lumber the Rs as racists and homophobes for opposing zir.

    If there is an over/under on the Senate Republican’s holding out, I will take the under. They are gutless swine.

  12. ton – The President has a constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court Justice.

  13. ton – The President has a constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court Justice. The Senate has the right to advise and consent. No consent, no appointment. Simple as that.

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