This is so sudden and nobody was expecting this. I feel bad for his family, but I also think this is going to be a very major thing going into the election and who Obama nominates to replace him. It will also change the makeup of the court, with 5 liberals, one swing vote and only three conservatives.
Holy shit. Was NOT expecting that. That's pretty sad. Obama might not be able to get a new nomination in on time though. The GOP will be blocking any nomination he can get. It takes a while to get a new Justice in... Don't get your hopes up! The Senate needs to approve all nominations. And guess who controls the Senate?
Horrible, nasty little person but it's nice that he got a peaceful death. That will comfort his family.
The will be a big mess being it is a election season and I am sure republicans will try to destruct the nomination process in waiting for a hopefully republican president.. Politics aside it is a sad day for Scalia's family and it is not the the time to demonize him for whatever he believed in. Rest in peace.
All he has to do is get five Republicans to come over to vote yes, and Susan Collins, Mark Kirk, and Lisa Murkowski make three right off the bat. I'm sure you could also find a justice McCain would support as well, so that leaves just one more vote. And even if the Republicans obstruct, any vacancy in the Supreme Court favors liberals.
As others have stated, this is huge. Both of Obama's prior nominees were liberals replacing liberals. It's not like he's going to nominate another Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he's going to nominate someone that will get through the Senate. Now despite the right wing histrionics, they did confirm John Brennan, Chuck Hagel, and Loretta Lynch to the cabinet, and both Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan received Republican votes. This could be the end of Citizens United, this could be the end of gerrymandering, this could be a formidable defense of Roe vs. Wade. This is huge. Antonin Scalia was one of the most partisan, activist, and crooked justices ever to sit on the Supreme Court, and he's easily the worst justice in American history.
I thought it was a simple majority too, but someone just told me it's 60. I guess there was a confusion. Sorry, you're right.
There aren't many people whose deaths I would celebrate openly. This is one. As a non-christian gay person with a preexisting medical condition, he stood against my rights. I don't think the Republicans will block a nominee. It won't be someone as liberal as the other justices Obama has nominated. By nominating an uncontroversial moderate, there will be enough republican senators in swing states up for reelection who would be labeled obstructionist as they campaigned. And it would be a logistical problem to have a 4-4 tie in decisions for an entire court term.
You i don't care who you are taking joy in someone's death is never justified. It is exactly how some bigots act when a gay person dies and how dare we stoop to the same level as them. RIP Antonin Scalia.
I don't know about that. With such a tie, it's possible the Supreme Court won't be able to issue any rulings. But they'd merely be joining the rest of government in an inability to get anything done...
How sad. I can't imagine how his family must be feeling when they found out he died. It's also sad to see how many people are demonizing him and happy for his death. It's awful and it doesn't make them any better than he. This man was a husband, father, grandfather, etc who is going to miss him very much.
The irony here is that they would have celebrated Ginsburg's death if she died if/when a Republican is president (so they could undo a ton of progressive rulings).