Scalia dead

[Steeler]

A suggestion I heard that's just a fantasy, but is making me happy: the GOP succeeds in putting off appointing a replacement till after the election, and Pres. Sanders or Clinton pushes Obama thru as the next SCJ.

Yes yes yes yes yes!

That is the scariest thing I've heard In a long time. I ol

[Sandra Craft]

Michelle would probably divorce him if he dared to go along with this I get the impression she can't wait to get out of there.
I've heard NJ Senator Cory Booker's name floated out there too.

a) I don't blame Michelle at all, and b) no to Cory Booker.  I want him free to run for President in the near future.

[Sandra Craft]

A suggestion I heard that's just a fantasy, but is making me happy: the GOP succeeds in putting off appointing a replacement till after the election, and Pres. Sanders or Clinton pushes Obama thru as the next SCJ.

Yes yes yes yes yes!

That is the scariest thing I've heard In a long time. I ol

Thank you!   

[Recusant]

Certain folks like to dismiss Slate as useless fluff and sensationalism, but on occasion it has some rather good articles. Here's one on Justice Scalia: "The Tragedy of Antonin Scalia" | Slate

I think the following quote is particularly apposite:

Scalia refused to acknowledge that originalism does not enable justices to decide cases neutrally. If they choose to adopt this methodology, and manage to figure out a way to make it constrain them, they are committed to enforcing mostly 18th-century values—which are, by definition, conservative.

In fact, the historical sources are rarely clear, and foundational questions about how originalism is supposed to proceed—including how much weight (if any) should be given to post-founding judicial precedents that deviate from the original understanding, and how broadly constitutional principles like "due process" and "equal protection" should be understood—are irresolvable. One of the original originalists—Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black—was a stalwart liberal. A liberal Yale law professor has mischievously proclaimed himself an originalist and shown how originalism can lead to liberal outcomes. Scalia's interpretation of originalist sources has been frequently criticized, and in notable instances when he could not bend them to his will, he simply ignored them. His belief that campaign finance laws and commercial speech regulations violated the First Amendment would have surprised the founders, for example.

This is why originalism has no staying power except as a slogan. When Sen. Ted Cruz says that he will appoint an originalist if he wins the presidency, he means that he would appoint a justice who will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and strike down economic regulation like Obamacare. Republican senators will block any nominee to the Supreme Court to replace Scalia who isn't likely to vote in such a way—but neither President Obama nor a potential future liberal president would nominate such a person. The court is probably doomed to a lengthy period without a full slate of nine justices (at least through the election, possibly longer), which will be devastating to its effectiveness.

[Continues . . .]

[Davin]

[Sandra Craft]

^^ I love John Oliver.

[Nam]

John Oliver rulez! I wish I had HBO. That dildo/New Zealand episode the other day was hilarious.

-Nam