Scalia Dead

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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Saturday died of natural causes at a resort in Texas, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Scalia, 79, was at the Cibolo Creek Ranch near Marfa. He was reportedly found in his room when he did not show up for breakfast.

Having served for nearly 30 years, Scalia was the longest-serving justice on the bench. Scalia was considered one of the most conservative justices on the Supreme Court. Scalia's death could upset the balance of the bench, which has sat at five conservatives and four liberals.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/02/13/justice-antonin-scalia-reportedly-dead.html

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Type: Discussion • Score: 18 • Views: 6,504 • Replies: 83

Hey everyone, I don't know how this works. Can Obama appoint a liberal justice now. to tilt the scales the other direction?

2 Replies

@snood,

Any Obama nominee will likely be filibustered. I doubt that we will see an Obama nominee make it through Congress.

Politically this helps Obama... his executive orders on immigration and climate will likely stand in a 4-4 court.

The Constitution gives Obama the ability to use a recess appointment. This will be politically very controversial. Whether this happens is anyone's guess.

2 Replies

@maxdancona,

Thanks, max.

0 Replies

One Obama nominee was approved. It may be too soon to count out his new one.

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@snood,

remember McConnell controls what comes up for debate in the Senate. I see this as an election issue in which the GOP has to play rather carefully so as not to appear to be playing up to a "SEE? Theyre just roablocks for politics"!

A couple of pundits, have suggested a "middle of the Road" candidate who wouldnt be too far away from Scalia's "libertarian" views.

Its been said that he was dissatisfied with the USSC and was testing the water regarding an "early" retirement.

1 Reply

@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

The Constitution gives Obama the ability to use a recess appointment. This will be politically very controversial. Whether this happens is anyone's guess.

I say let Mr. Obama make the recess appointment. Just make sure that the permanent slot stays open for Mr. Trump to fill after the election.

1 Reply

@oralloy,

I don't think there is a Constitutional way to support that Oralloy.

The elected president gets to nominate the Supreme Court justice. Barack Obama is the elected president.

Anyone who cares about faithfully following the Constitution will want Obama to nominate the next justice. I don't think that conservatives will care about the Constitution in this case.

1 Reply

It's strange. I opposed the guy almost always, but I always ended up liking him when I saw him on TV. He certainly made a mark, and won't be soon forgotten.

1 Reply

@Blickers,

I'm not a fan of supreme court justices, because they are selected by the president in power when there is a vacancy. There's always a 'fight' between conservative and liberal judges. They're based on happenstance.

0 Replies

@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

I don't think there is a Constitutional way to support that Oralloy.

Sure there is. Just refuse to confirm the nomination until Mr. Trump is sworn into office. Then confirm Mr. Trump's nominee.

maxdancona wrote:

The elected president gets to nominate the Supreme Court justice. Barack Obama is the elected president.

Only for one more year. Then Mr. Trump will be the elected president.

maxdancona wrote:

Anyone who cares about faithfully following the Constitution will want Obama to nominate the next justice.

There is nothing unconstitutional about refusing to confirm Mr. Obama's nominees.

1 Reply

@oralloy,

Uh, no. You got that wrong. If Obama does this, the Senate never gets to vote on the nominee. He waits for the Senate to adjourn, appoints the Supreme Court justice, and that's that. The Senate when it comes back will have to confirm the appointment within two years, or else the vacancy occurs. I don't know if the Senate can deny the appointment and have the guy step down quicker. But the Senate might not want it to come to that-throwing a Supreme Court Justice off the bench.

Quote:

A recess appointment is the appointment, by the President of the United States, of a senior federal official while the U.S. Senate is in recess. The United States Constitution requires that the most senior federal officers must be confirmed by the Senate before assuming office, but while the Senate is in recess the President may act alone by making a recess appointment to fill "Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate." To remain in effect, a recess appointment must be approved by the Senate by the end of the next session of Congress, or the position becomes vacant again; in current practice this means that a recess appointment must be approved by roughly the end of the next calendar year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recess_appointment

1 Reply

How do you deal with people like this?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbIQwL6UkAAsWMX.jpg:large

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

How do you deal with people like this?

What's really scary is, in today's political climate these frothing at the mouth wet brains no longer feel the need to hide.

2 Replies

@snood,

More than scary: these are the kind of crazies that act on their crazy ideas.

0 Replies

Social media gives these idiots a voice - unfortunately!

McConnell said in 2005 that it is the president who nominates a new supreme court justice. Of course, Bush was in office then and the world was different then. Fast forward to now and McConnell is convinced that we need to wait for the next president to fill the vacancy.

I do hope Obama nominates someone very very soon and I also hope he can pull it off so we get another liberal justice in there to reshape the ideological face of he supreme court.

0 Replies

@snood,

That's what happens when the guy on the radio convinces his audience that they can ONLY get their news from right wing sources. Then it becomes a game of one-upmanship among righties finding the "real" reason for current events.

0 Replies

@Blickers,

Blickers wrote:

Uh, no. You got that wrong.

You misunderstand. You are talking about how to block a recess appointment. I was talking about how to block a permanent appointment.

Blickers wrote:

If Obama does this, the Senate never gets to vote on the nominee. He waits for the Senate to adjourn, appoints the Supreme Court justice, and that's that. The Senate when it comes back will have to confirm the appointment within two years, or else the vacancy occurs.

So they refuse to confirm and then the vacancy occurs.

Blickers wrote:

I don't know if the Senate can deny the appointment and have the guy step down quicker.

The Republicans could also block him from making a recess appointment and thereby keep the prospective nominee from even having a temporary appointment to the court. But I think it will be enough to merely block the permanent appointment.

Blickers wrote:

But the Senate might not want it to come to that-throwing a Supreme Court Justice off the bench.

Meh. It's fine with me.

1 Reply

@oralloy,

Quote oralloy:

Quote:

You misunderstand. You are talking about how to block a recess appointment. I was talking about how to block a permanent appointment.

The way you described it, the recess appointment never gets to sit on the bench. It looks like he sits on the bench for up to two years. And if it requires 60 votes to get the nomination even voted on, unless the Republicans add more Senators in November the new Supreme Court appointee will be on the bench for the full two years.

Not to mention, this business of now assuming Trump will be president makes for silly posts.

1 Reply

@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

remember McConnell controls what comes up for debate in the Senate. I see this as an election issue in which the GOP has to play rather carefully so as not to appear to be playing up to a "SEE? Theyre just roablocks for politics"!...

Certainly not so carefully as to let in a liberal Supreme Court justice who might be there for decades.

0 Replies

Scalia Dead

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