Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

[vt]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

Its all politics:

The Democrats have delayed too.

http://www.politico.com/story/2007/0...t-picks-005146

[peakishmael]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

Its all politics:

The Democrats have delayed too.

http://www.politico.com/story/2007/0...t-picks-005146

Really? Which confirmation was delayed? None noted in that article. Maybe you meant some other time.

[vt]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

Stopped would have been a better word than delayed; my error.

There was concern the if Stevens died that Bush could nominate another Supreme Court judge. Schumer was letting it be known that he would have worked much harder to prevent it.

They all play politics. If the Democrats faced what the Republicans do now they would act the same.

[Woodsman]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

This is by far the worst-case-scenario for the GOP and the right wing and could not have come at a worse time.

They can either stall or concede. If they stall, their obstructionism becomes the issue and it dooms them in the general. If they concede, they lose half their base to Trump, lose the Supreme Court, and lose the general.

If the GOP base and their leadership had more brains than balls, they might see their best hope as a strategic retreat on Obama's choice. A better strategy would be to concentrate their energy on winning the general and
regaining control of the court once the next vacancy arrives. But they won't because they can't help themselves. So the GOP will choose obstructionism and delay as effortlessly as you and I take our next breath.

Hell, they might even be "successful" and truly ufcked. Such an outcome will energize Democratic voters and independents, bringing us a Clinton or Sanders administration. And whichever of the two wins will then put three additional liberal justices on the court.

If I were Obama I'd nominate Anita Hill and make the bastards choke on it.

[jk]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

This is by far the worst-case-scenario for the GOP and the right wing and could not have come at a worse time.

They can either stall or concede. If they stall, their obstructionism becomes the issue and it dooms them in the general. If they concede, they lose half their base to Trump, lose the Supreme Court, and lose the general.

If the GOP base and their leadership had more brains than balls, they might see their best hope as a strategic retreat on Obama's choice. A better strategy would be to concentrate their energy on winning the general and
regaining control of the court once the next vacancy arrives. But they won't because they can't help themselves. So the GOP will choose obstructionism and delay as effortlessly as you and I take our next breath.

Hell, they might even be "successful" and truly ufcked. Such an outcome will energize Democratic voters and independents, bringing us a Clinton or Sanders administration. And whichever of the two wins will then put three additional liberal justices on the court.

If I were Obama I'd nominate Anita Hill and make the bastards choke on it.

i never realized how much of an optimist you were.

[vt]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

Both parties are disintegrating before our eyes.

This is the background of Hillary's adversary, Bernie the bum:

Bernie's Bum Life

February 15, 2016

"You know what I learned about Bernie Sanders? He didn't earn a paycheck 'til age 40. Bernie Sanders is actually a bum. Bernie Sanders. Here it is, the Investor's Business Daily editorial: "Bernie Sanders, The Bum Who Wants Your Money -- Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said Monday his parents would never have thought their son would end up in the Senate and running for president. No kidding. He was a ne'er-do-well into his late 30s.

"'It's certainly something that I don't think they ever believed would've happened,' the unabashed socialist remarked during CNN's Democratic town hall forum... He explained his family couldn't imagine his 'success,' because 'my brother and I and Mom and Dad grew up in a three-and-a-half-room rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn, and we never had a whole lot of money.'" IBD says, "It wasn't as bad as he says. His family managed to send him to the University of Chicago. Despite a prestigious degree, however, Sanders failed to earn a living, even as an adult.

"It took him 40 years to collect his first steady paycheck -- and it was a government check. 'I never had any money my entire life,' Sanders told Vermont public TV in 1985, after settling into his first real job as mayor of Burlington. Sanders spent most of his life as an angry radical and agitator who never accomplished much of anything. And yet now he thinks he deserves the power to run your life and your finances -- 'We will raise taxes;' he confirmed Monday, 'yes, we will.' One of his first jobs was registering people for food stamps...

"Sanders took his first bride to live in a maple sugar shack with a dirt floor, and she soon left him. Penniless, he went on unemployment." So he went from a dirt-floor shack to unemployment. "Then he had a child out of wedlock. Desperate, he tried carpentry but could barely sink a nail. 'He was a shi**y carpenter,' a friend told Politico Magazine. 'His carpentry was not going to support him, and didn't.'

"Then he tried his hand freelancing for leftist rags, writing about 'masturbation and rape' and other crudities for $50 a story. He drove around in a rusted-out, Bondo-covered VW bug with no working windshield wipers. Friends said he was 'always poor' and his 'electricity was turned off a lot.' They described him as a slob who kept a messy apartment -- and this is what his friends had to say about him. The only thing he was good at was talking ... non-stop ... about socialism and how the rich were ripping everybody off.

"'The whole quality of life in America is based on greed,' the bitter layabout said. 'I believe in the redistribution of wealth in this nation.' ... He finally wormed his way into the Senate in 2006, where he still ranks as one of the poorest members of Congress. Save for a municipal pension, Sanders lists no assets in his name. All the assets provided in his financial disclosure form are his second wife's. He does, however, have as much as $65,000 in credit-card debt." His first job was a government paycheck, at 40 years old. He's a "bum."

IBD

[jk]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

WASHINGTON — The vow by Senate Republicans to block whomeverPresident Obama nominates to fill the sudden vacancy on the Supreme Court presages a prolonged election year struggle, but the clash is less a new front against the White House than an escalation of a battle that had begun at the appeals court level before Justice Antonin Scalia died.

Since Republicans took control of the Senate in January 2015, the process that would enable Mr. Obama to fill vacancies on the 12 regional federal courts of appeal has essentially been halted. Mr. Obama has managed only one appointment because Republican senators have refused to sign off ahead of time on nominees for judgeships in their states — a traditional step before a president makes a nomination.

In the weeks before Justice Scalia’s death, influential conservative groupsand commentators called on Senate Republicans to ensure that Mr. Obama appointed no more appeals court judges.

Among those commentators was Ed Whelan, a former clerk to Justice Scalia and a prominent blogger. He said in an interview Monday that conservatives could not compromise over any appointments to the upper ranks of the judiciary — including the appeals courts, which get the last word on matters the Supreme Court does not review and often serve as a breeding ground for future justices...

Just as there is no precedent for leaving a Supreme Court seat open because it is an election year, as Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, vowed to do hours after Justice Scalia’s death was announced, there is also none for virtually shutting down the appointment of new appeals court judges so early. Each of Mr. Obama’s predecessors since Ronald Reagan also faced a Senate controlled by the opposing party, yet they appointed between 10 and 18 appellate judges in their last two years in office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/16/us...te-judges.html

[Woodsman]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

...Just as there is no precedent for leaving a Supreme Court seat open because it is an election year, as Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, vowed to do hours after Justice Scalia’s death was announced, there is also none for virtually shutting down the appointment of new appeals court judges so early. Each of Mr. Obama’s predecessors since Ronald Reagan also faced a Senate controlled by the opposing party, yet they appointed between 10 and 18 appellate judges in their last two years in office.

They are making it up as they go along. There is no precedence for any of this.

The GOP long ago abandoned constitutional governance with regard to budgets and judicial appointments. The Democrats are hardly better. They rightfully complain about judges being held up, but seem to me entirely content to log roll with the GOP on the budget.

[shiny!]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

Both parties are disintegrating before our eyes.

This is the background of Hillary's adversary, Bernie the bum:

Bernie's Bum Life

February 15, 2016 ...

Not sure what that editorial has to do with the subject of Antonin Scalia's death, but it's garbage IMO. U.S. Grant was considered a failure in life before he became a general. Truman was widely considered to be a failure in life and unqualified to be president. The list could go on and on...

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

They are making it up as they go along. There is no precedence for any of this.

The GOP long ago abandoned constitutional governance with regard to budgets and judicial appointments. The Democrats are hardly better. They rightfully complain about judges being held up, but seem to me entirely content to log roll with the GOP on the budget.

Civilized society is a surprisingly fragile thing, and it is largely voluntary for each individual.
Once people decide they personally won't obey the rule of law as it is written in any particular situation, it can all fall apart pretty fast.

[Woodsman]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

Not sure what that editorial has to do with the subject of Antonin Scalia's death, but it's garbage IMO. U.S. Grant was considered a failure in life before he became a general. Truman was widely considered to be a failure in life and unqualified to be president. The list could go on and on...

It's just the typical drive-by kick in the nuts, is all. Not that it makes a difference to the good burghers in Wall Street and Main Street, but Sanders worked on a kibbutz in Israel, as an aide at a psychiatric hospital, a teacher in a Head Start program, and was co-owner of a carpentry business in New York. He's also worked as a filmmaker and writer, along with his positions as Mayor of Burlington, Representative and Senator.

[vt]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...scalias-death/

[LorenS]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

So if the GOP Borks the first Obama nomination it's hardly unprecedented.

The GOP has caved to Obama on nearly every issue so far, I doubt they'll do much more than whine even if Obama nominates someone like Lynch or Holder.

[jk]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

the latest thing i read suggested lynch - very recently vetted and confirmed to become atty general. significant experience as a u.s. attorney/prosecutor, and if they kill the nomination they piss off/motivate both african americans and women. the only aspect that could be a political improvement is if she were hispanic.

[Woodsman]

Re: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dead

So if the GOP Borks the first Obama nomination it's hardly unprecedented.

The GOP has caved to Obama on nearly every issue so far, I doubt they'll do much more than whine even if Obama nominates someone like Lynch or Holder.

I know, the right is still bitter over Bork. They got shellacked and deservedly so for putting forth a non-starter, destined to stir a sh!tstorm of hurricane force. The esteemed jurist was every bit the reactionary zealot he was portrayed to be and richly deserved to be voted down.

It didn't have to be that way as the previous confirmation of O'Connor demonstrated. But the ideological warriors like Ed Meese were looking for a fight. Only when they got more than they expected, all they could manage was to clutch their pearls and faint.

Yet look who has the last laugh. We've become "Robert Bork's America."