Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dead at 79

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Wow. RIP.

It's ridiculous for Repubs to say that the next President should pick his successor. It's clearly the right/responsibility of the current President, and there's no way Bush II would have agreed to this in the other direction. If Repubs block everyone Obama nominates, couldn't this be used against the 2016 GOP pres. nominee? And if Sanders/Clinton wins, would they still block?

Even though plenty of Democrats voted against Roberts and Alito, both of them (esp. Roberts) still ran ahead of party lines. Dems need only four Repubs to confirm.

60-Vote filibusters still exist for SCOTUS. Dems need 13 Rs.

[136or142]

Two Republicans that most in both parties might find acceptable:

1.Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski.  Mostly pro choice and a genuine centrist in the U.S Senate.  Not exactly a highly respected lawyer though I don't think.

2.Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval.  Already mentioned once here.  Was a Nevada State Attorney General for two years before being recommended by Harry Reid to George W Bush to be appointed to a Federal Court position and was confirmed by the U.S Senate 89-0.  I don't know his positions on legal matters but he was reelected as governor in 2014 with 70% of the vote.

Two Democratic U.S Senators who most Republicans might confirm (though they may be too young for most Republicans to accept)
1.Amy Klobuchar, already mentioned
2.Kirsten Gillibrand.  

Republicans may be willing to accept a centrist Democrat in his late 60s or older.  Maybe Patrick Leahy who seems to be somewhat centrist I think on most legal matters.

[RodPresident]

Two Republicans that most in both parties might find acceptable:

1.Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski.  Mostly pro choice and a genuine centrist in the U.S Senate.  Not exactly a highly respected lawyer though I don't think.

2.Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval.  Already mentioned once here.  Was a Nevada State Attorney General for two years before being recommended by Harry Reid to George W Bush to be appointed to a Federal Court position and was confirmed by the U.S Senate 89-0.  I don't know his positions on legal matters but he was reelected as governor in 2014 with 70% of the vote.

Two Democratic U.S Senators who most Republicans might confirm (though they may be too young for most Republicans to accept)
1.Amy Klobuchar, already mentioned
2.Kirsten Gillibrand. 

Republicans may be willing to accept a centrist Democrat in his late 60s or older.  Maybe Patrick Leahy who seems to be somewhat centrist I think on most legal matters.

Heitkamp would be an option too, as former Attorney General and a senator from a Red state.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Sandoval would get blocked because he's pro-choice.

[Green Line]

RIP Justice Scalia.  I doubt we'll ever have someone so committed to the pro-life movement again.  Thank you.

[Beezer]

Can a Supreme Court seat remain vacant indefinitely? Just seems rather odd for this process to in all likelihood take a year.

[publicunofficial]

RIP Justice Scalia.  I doubt we'll ever have someone so committed to the pro-life movement again.  Thank you.

I mean, I'd argue the people murdering abortion clinic employees are more committed to the cause.

[136or142]

RIP Justice Scalia.  I doubt we'll ever have someone so committed to the pro-life movement again.  Thank you.

You mean the "anti abortion" movement.  I don't think Scalia was in any way 'pro life' unless you mean pro life for the already privileged.

[136or142]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/us-world/article/Senior-Associate-Justice-Antonin-Scalia-found-6828930.php?cmpid=twitter-desktop


(This is your friendly neighborhood spidermod adding to the first post of this thread to remind people to be reasonably respectful in your comments, regardless of your opinions of the man, good or bad.  I have a busy day tomorrow and I'm not going to wade thru posts here with a fine-toothed comb to get rid of the garbage, but with a broom.)

So, you are only going to allow comments that are more or less nice about Scalia?  Talk about politically correct bullsh**t.

From lawyer, former radio talk show host, narrowly defeated Victoria B.C  federal Liberal candidate for nomination and economics masters graduate Adam Stirling on my twitter feed:

1.Adam Stirling ‏@Adam_Stirling  9h9 hours ago
Besides, does anybody think Scalia would want to be falsely adored by those who he knew didn't like him? No way. He'd want brutal clarity.

2.I suppose one could argue for the inherent value of human mercy and decency. But he never did. Why should those who (don't) mourn him?

3.And maybe give the holier than thou you-have-to-be-nice language policing schtick a break, just this once.

[pbrower2a]

Wow. RIP.

It's ridiculous for Repubs to say that the next President should pick his successor. It's clearly the right/responsibility of the current President, and there's no way Bush II would have agreed to this in the other direction. If Repubs block everyone Obama nominates, couldn't this be used against the 2016 GOP pres. nominee? And if Sanders/Clinton wins, would they still block?

Even though plenty of Democrats voted against Roberts and Alito, both of them (esp. Roberts) still ran ahead of party lines. Dems need only four Repubs to confirm.

If Republicans play power politics with the President Obama on a Supreme Court justice then they risk ensuring that their next chance to appoint another Justice to the Supreme Court with a Republican President will be at least 2021. There are battles to avoid. 

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

RIP Justice Scalia.  I doubt we'll ever have someone so committed to the pro-life movement again.  Thank you.

I could think of a few as devoted as Scalia. One just happens to be running for president.

[Miles]

Can a Supreme Court seat remain vacant indefinitely? Just seems rather odd for this process to in all likelihood take a year.

Yes, there's no statutory timeframe/deadline.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The GOP should confirm, I concur with pbower, with Kirk, Ayotte, Johnson and Portman are up 4 blue state GOP, they risk losing anyways. Justice Ginnsberg will soon be replacing. The GOP should roll the dice on this election and hopes she leaves soon.

But, Dems are gonna put up a fight.

[DemPGH]

Wow, I was at a conference, got back last night, and am catching up on a lot of this. If they just block Obama's pick, it will end up being well over a calendar year likely before one is installed. That's just unacceptable.

Scalia was truly awful, so I see plenty of opportunity for improvement here, even if Obama has to compromise on the pick a little.

[Mr. Reactionary]

This is really, really depressing. And of course my reading for this week includes multiple Scalia opinions and dissents, all on CAA air pollution regulations, and the Court just stayed the CPP pending a decision. Christ, the Court lost its go-to CAA writer on the verge of one of the most important CAA cases in a generation. Regardless of the outcome of the CPP case, the opinion will suffer greatly from the lack of Scalia's insight. Thomas and Alito don't even bother to analyze the law, and Roberts is better at arguing abstractions. Kennedy does whatever he wants, and Breyer + the Three Sisters believe that whatever the EPA does is right (unless Bush is in charge), and just invoke Chevron. Scalia was THE Justice who went into detail on the various quirks and relationships of the various sections of the law. Since he was a textulist, it was all about knowing the words of the law and what they meant. Considering the importance of CAA interpretations on the world economy, I am greatly concerned that future opinions will be muddled and uncertain. Then I realize that this influences thousands of other important legal questions as well, and it hits me how screwed we are. This current term is a wash, with a stream of inevitable 4-4 dysfunctional opinions that will mire the legal world for generations. Friedrichs was the first real challenge to a 1977 decision in 39 years. If it 4-4 non-suits then we'll have to deal with an identical case 7 or 8 years from now if we're lucky. And in the meantime nobody knows what to do. And the Supreme Court essentially exists only to take the big, important cases that need precedent because the issues affect us all. Hopefully Obama nominates one of the retired justices as an interim replacement, Souter being the likely compromise Justice. Damn this sucks.

[Peter]

Antonin Scalia was undoubtedly a giant of the Court - his passing a great loss to debate on that body, and a loss to all those who read his opinions expecting a chuckle along the way.

SCOTUSblog - Justice statements

Every single serving Justice and two of the three retired Justices have made a public statement. David Souter is conspicuous in his absence. Is he ill?  I had a poke around the First Circuit opinions (he has done a lot of work on that Court in "retirement") - I found an opinion in May 2015, so still relatively active, but these things can come on quickly (evidently).

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Joins long serving justices O Douglas and Stevens spending  3 decades on Crt. Whenever a liberal replaces him, since, it will mark the true end of the Reagan Revolution

[The Dowager Mod]

Anita Hill would be a great nomination. *giggle*

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/us-world/article/Senior-Associate-Justice-Antonin-Scalia-found-6828930.php?cmpid=twitter-desktop


(This is your friendly neighborhood spidermod adding to the first post of this thread to remind people to be reasonably respectful in your comments, regardless of your opinions of the man, good or bad.  I have a busy day tomorrow and I'm not going to wade thru posts here with a fine-toothed comb to get rid of the garbage, but with a broom.)

So, you are only going to allow comments that are more or less nice about Scalia?  Talk about politically correct bullsh**t.

From lawyer, former radio talk show host, narrowly defeated Victoria B.C  federal Liberal candidate for nomination and economics masters graduate Adam Stirling on my twitter feed:

1.Adam Stirling ‏@Adam_Stirling  9h9 hours ago
Besides, does anybody think Scalia would want to be falsely adored by those who he knew didn't like him? No way. He'd want brutal clarity.

2.I suppose one could argue for the inherent value of human mercy and decency. But he never did. Why should those who (don't) mourn him?

3.And maybe give the holier than thou you-have-to-be-nice language policing schtick a break, just this once.

Nah, just don't be gleefully celebrating that you think the guy's burning in the six-hundred sixty-sixth level of the Inferno. and you'll do alright.

[136or142]

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Massive FF

[Zioneer]

I'm really getting annoyed at the conspiracy theories saying that he was murdered.

[This account no longer in use.]

I'm really getting annoyed at the conspiracy theories saying that he was murdered.

There are people who think Andrew Breitbart and Tom Clancy were murdered, too.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I'm really getting annoyed at the conspiracy theories saying that he was murdered.

Only Hillary Clinton is a murderer. The Obama's are the salt of the earth type folks. It's really disgusting that the Tea Party is so insistent on that, however fringy they are now.

[DINGO Joe]

I'm really getting annoyed at the conspiracy theories saying that he was murdered.

The Bilderbergers win again