Justice Anton Scalia Reportedly Found Dead At Texas Resort

While much of the immediate focus after Scalia's death over the weekend was on the long game of who replaces him, and when, the impact is far more immediate and potentially historic. Even if a Republican president ultimately names Scalia's successor, the conservative legal movement will have suffered a dramatic setback by virtue of how many important cases it had queued up for this year that will be thrown into turmoil by a court with only eight justices and the potential for 4-4 tie votes.

With a number of high-stakes cases at or heading towards the Supreme Court, conservative legal advocates face a situation where they are unlikely to get the sweeping decisions they were hoping for, especially in the cases specifically designed to roll back progressive policies. Even any favorable outcomes in some of the test cases they lined up for the high court are now in jeopardy.

“I think we fall into the trap if just simply say sight unseen, we fall into the trap of being obstructionists,” [GOP Sen Thom] Tillis told The Tyler Cralle Show

He said Republicans' concern is that Obama would nominate someone who is "ideologically aligned” with him, and "that's out of step with the American people.”

"If he puts forth someone that we think is in the mold of President Obama’s vision for America, then we’ll use every device available to block that nomination,” Tillis continued.

Alberto Gonzales, who served as attorney general under President George W. Bush, broke from Republican Party line by suggesting repeatedly over the weekend that a nomination to the Supreme Court to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia shouldn't wait for the next president.

"If the shoe were on the other foot, and there was a Republican in the White House and Democratically controlled Congress, I would expect the Republican president to make a nomination when ready of a qualified individual," Gonzales said on the BBC.

"Our strongest strategy is to not have hearings,'' Curt Levey, the executive director of FreedomWorks Foundation and a veteran of past Supreme Court nomination fights, told reporters on a conference call. "This is about the right of the American people to wait until November... To hold a hearing is to put the focus on the nominee rather than the situation."

Republicans insist on strictly following the Constitution. Just not right now. Now is special, they say. Now is not the time to resort to a nitpicky document drawn up by bewigged ancients.

Fox's Newt Gingrich: Obama Should Ask Conservative Senators To Recommend A Justice "In The Scalia Tradition"

No sooner was Antonin Scalia dead than Republicans said that his seat should not be filled before the election of a new president. Senator Mitch McConnell said this will let the American people “have a voice” in who the new justice will be. Senator Kelly Ayotte said “Americans deserve an opportunity to weigh in” on the matter. And Senator Ted Cruz, the presidential candidate, Senate Judiciary Committee member, and self-styled guardian of the Constitution, wrote on Twitter, “We owe it to him, [Scalia] & the Nation, for the Senate to ensure that the next President names his replacement.” That is, we owe it to the archetypal originalist, where the Constitution is concerned, to ignore and defy the original Constitution.

What IS written into the constitution is the responsibility of the President to name another justice and put him up for consideration. And these turkeys love the constitution so very, very much.

just like the Democrats did to the Bush Administration back in 2008.

Q. When was the last time there was a major ideological shift on the court?

...In 2006, Justice Alito, a conservative, moved the court to the right when he replaced Justice O’Connor, a moderate. But the most important switch in recent decades was the appointment of Justice Clarence Thomas, the most conservative member of the court in modern times, to replace Justice Thurgood Marshall, the most liberal.

“The importance of the change in the court’s jurisprudence that is directly attributable to the choice of Clarence Thomas to fill the vacancy created by Thurgood’s retirement cannot be overstated,” Justice Stevens wrote in his 2011 memoir. Should President Obama succeed in appointing a replacement for Justice Scalia, that move could be just as consequential."

Good for Gonzales. That such sanity is so rare right now ought to sober a hell of a lot of people who are presently unsoberized.

Quote:

Alberto Gonzales, who served as attorney general under President George W. Bush, broke from Republican Party line by suggesting repeatedly over the weekend that a nomination to the Supreme Court to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia shouldn't wait for the next president.

"If the shoe were on the other foot, and there was a Republican in the White House and Democratically controlled Congress, I would expect the Republican president to make a nomination when ready of a qualified individual," Gonzales said on the BBC.

http://bit.ly/1WqtTVz

I find it amusing watching the left discuss how absolutely clear the Constitution is on getting a Supreme Court Judge