Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dead at 79

[Mike Thick]

Omg... I'm honestly stunned beyond belief. May he RIP.

I don't know that President Obama can get anyone confirmed through this Senate. Maybe he could appoint a Senator or maybe Sandra Day O'Connor could be pulled out of retirement temporarily.

I would definitely sign on to Sandra Day O'Connor. I have a lot of respect for her judicial reasoning.

I'd dig it.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I was on the phone with my uncle talking about some records I bought today and turned the channel to CNN only to see this breaking across the screen. My Uncle had to tell me to calm down .

This is truly a devastating loss.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

May he rest in peace--one of the greatest jurists of modern time.

[Angel of Death]

It will be so hypocritical if the Senate doesn't allow Obama to do his job and appoint the replacement.

Why? Obama voted down both Bush-era nominees, and both were to replace Conservative judges? Why is he owed more courtesy on a liberal nominee to replace a conservative judge?

Liar. Sandra Day O'Connor was a swing vote.

She was appointed by Reagan and considered part of the "Conservative wing", much the way Kennedy still is, even though like Kennedy, she was the most common swing vote.

You know this, of course.

Irrelevant. The point is that the effect Bush and Obama each had on the Supreme Court (so far) have not been equivalent. By the standards of the Court, Bush replaced a swing vote with a conservative, whereas Obama only replaced liberals.

[Stockdale for Veep]

Obvious solution is to do a West Wing compromise with Ginsburg.

[politicallefty]

What if, after tiring from the Republicans blocking his nominees, Obama nominates Lawrence Lessig, who agrees to resign at the end of Obama's presidency.

(Obviously not going to happen but I thought it would be an interesting idea)

As I said above, what if we actually did a real compromise and temporarily pull Justice O'Connor out of retirement?

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Blocking an appointment by Obama could be used against Senators Kelly Ayotte, Ron Johnson, Mark Kirk, Rob Portman, and Pat Toomey in their reelection campaign.

I'm honestly not sure if Democrats as a whole even want to defeat Toomey.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

What if, after tiring from the Republicans blocking his nominees, Obama nominates Lawrence Lessig, who agrees to resign at the end of Obama's presidency.

(Obviously not going to happen but I thought it would be an interesting idea)

As I said above, what if we actually did a real compromise and temporarily pull Justice O'Connor out of retirement?

That's not a compromise, that's surrender.

[Leinad]

I know one thing if a Republican votes for Obamas appointee they will be primaried and they will lose.

Too definitive of a statement, and it also makes the assumption that Obama will vote for an uber-liberal nominee.

Voting for a liberal nominee will hurt someone with conservatives, sure, but voting against a moderate nominee will hurt someone with moderates and liberals.

Besides, it's probably too late to successfully primary anyone now, unless there's already a formidable challenger.

[Mr.Phips]

If you're the GOP, you absolutely can not confirm anyone appointed by Obama. You have to bet big on the GOP winning the White House in November. Approving a socially liberal "compromise" Justice is just as bad as losing and having Hillary appoint someone.

That's not necessarily true.  It's a gamble of make a deal now on a Kennedy type or roll the dice on whether you get Justice Ted Cruz or Justice Kamala Harris this time in 2017.  Or maybe Hillary narrowly wins and the senate stays R-controlled and we're right back where we started.  With Ginsburg, Kennedy and Breyer all being over 75, there should be substantial incentive for both sides to cooperate on a moderate or we could go right into another constitutional crisis circa 2019-20.  

If I were Obama in this situation, I'd be on the phone with Brian Sandoval right now.

No way should Obama pick a Republican.  If this seat has to stay unfilled until Democrats win the Senate, so be it.

[IceSpear]

Condolences to his family. My jaw nearly dropped when I just overheard this on the TV. Who would've predicted he'd go before Ginsburg?

It'll be a cold day in hell before Republicans confirm an Obama appointee, no matter how moderate they are. Hell, they'd probably even try to block Hillary if she won, if not for the fact that stonewalling for 5+ years would be completely untenable politically.

[politicallefty]

What if, after tiring from the Republicans blocking his nominees, Obama nominates Lawrence Lessig, who agrees to resign at the end of Obama's presidency.

(Obviously not going to happen but I thought it would be an interesting idea)

As I said above, what if we actually did a real compromise and temporarily pull Justice O'Connor out of retirement?

That's not a compromise, that's surrender.

I know, but who is President Obama going to get through a Republican Senate? It's not my first idea. Ideally, he should propose a US Senator (such as Amy Klobuchar). But there aren't many options when you have 46 seats in a 100-seat body. If the only option is reappointing O'Connor, I'll take it. Fwiw, she is opposed to Citizens United.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

any nominee would have to go through the senate judiciary comittee, which is filled with nuts on the GOP side:

Chuck Grassley, Iowa, Chair
Orrin Hatch, Utah
Jeff Sessions, Alabama
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
John Cornyn, Texas
Mike Lee, Utah
Ted Cruz, Texas
Jeff Flake, Arizona
David Vitter, Louisiana
David Perdue, Georgia
Thom Tillis, North Carolina

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

What if, after tiring from the Republicans blocking his nominees, Obama nominates Lawrence Lessig, who agrees to resign at the end of Obama's presidency.

(Obviously not going to happen but I thought it would be an interesting idea)

As I said above, what if we actually did a real compromise and temporarily pull Justice O'Connor out of retirement?

That's not a compromise, that's surrender.

I know, but who is President Obama going to get through a Republican Senate? It's not my first idea. Ideally, he should propose a US Senator (such as Amy Klobuchar). But there aren't many options when you have 46 seats in a 100-seat body. If the only option is reappointing O'Connor, I'll take it. Fwiw, she is opposed to Citizens United.

Obama should nominate someone solid liberal. If they are blocked, nominate someone a bit less liberal. If they are also blocked, rail against the Republican obstructionism for the rest of the year.

Goodwin Liu would probably be good for the first nomination. He's certainly qualified.

[Blue3]

Mitch McConnell says no replacement until January 2017.

[Horsemask]

RIP FF

[Asian Nazi]

any nominee would have to go through the senate judiciary comittee, which is filled with nuts on the GOP side:

Chuck Grassley, Iowa, Chair
Orrin Hatch, Utah
Jeff Sessions, Alabama
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
John Cornyn, Texas
Mike Lee, Utah
Ted Cruz, Texas
Jeff Flake, Arizona
David Vitter, Louisiana
David Perdue, Georgia
Thom Tillis, North Carolina

To be fair a random sampling of GOP Senators would probably be just as nutty.

[Higgs]

RIP FF

[7,052,770]

Appoint a pro-choice Republican politician (Brian Sandoval?) and call it a day. There's no need to have this be the defining issue of the 2016 election.

[Classic Conservative]

Appoint a pro-choice Republican politician (Brian Sandoval?) and call it a day. There's no need to have this be the defining issue of the 2016 election.

The thing is the base will go mad as hell. This is the only reason why I'm happy the Republicans won the Senate.

Blocking an appointment by Obama could be used against Senators Kelly Ayotte, Ron Johnson, Mark Kirk, Rob Portman, and Pat Toomey in their reelection campaign.

Won't matter, they'd make the base pissed and they won't go out and vote for the In the fall.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Appoint a pro-choice Republican politician (Brian Sandoval?) and call it a day. There's no need to have this be the defining issue of the 2016 election.

The thing is the base will go mad as hell. This is the only reason why I'm happy the Republicans won the Senate.

Blocking an appointment by Obama could be used against Senators Kelly Ayotte, Ron Johnson, Mark Kirk, Rob Portman, and Pat Toomey in their reelection campaign.

Won't matter, they'd make the base pissed and they won't go out and vote for the In the fall.

You are aware that "TEH BASE" is going to vote Republican anyway, right?

[Mr.Phips]

Appoint a pro-choice Republican politician (Brian Sandoval?) and call it a day. There's no need to have this be the defining issue of the 2016 election.

No way Obama should appoint a Republican.  Did George HW Bush nominate a Democrat when Thurgood Marshall retired just to appease the Democratic Senate?  No, he nominated Clarence Thomas, a hard core conservative Republican and Democrats confirmed him.

[publicunofficial]

As terrible as Scalia was, he was always a reliable voice for civil liberties. I hope his successor, regardless of party, at least follows that tradition.


Senate could hold out until Inauguration Day, but then they risk having to fight this battle with a Democratic president AND Senate.


Is there any historical precedent for a SC battle like this? 

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

It's pretty pathetic that some left-leaning posters are calling for Obama to appoint a right-wing political hack (if you sided with the majority in Bush vs. Gore, that's what you are) in the mold of O'Connor or *shudder* Kennedy.  If the pubs want a fight, nominate a liberal, get down in the mud and fight it out with the Senate non-stop until someone gets confirmed.  

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

It's pretty pathetic that some left-leaning posters are calling for Obama to appoint a right-wing political hack (if you sided with the majority in Bush vs. Gore, that's what you are) in the mold of O'Connor or *shudder* Kennedy.  If the pubs want a fight, nominate a liberal, get down in the mud and fight it out with the Senate non-stop until someone gets confirmed.  

I'd gain a lot of respect for Obama if he did, but we all know he is a coward who is afraid of a bruised ego. He can fight, but in the end, he's going to have to appoint Kennedy if we wants to become the first President since LBJ to fail to appoint a Judge in the last months of his term.