No idea if this is confirmed, but holy shit if true: http://www.sfgate.com/news/us-world/article/Senior-Associate-Justice-Antonin-Scalia-found-6828930.php
Seems to be true.
This is gonna get brutal.
A Supreme Court nomination in a presidential election year. Gonna be brutal.
Holy shit. I never liked the guy, but this is pretty unexpected.
That was my first thought when I learned this.
My second thought was a tentative and horrifically-feeling “Yay.”
Well, I mean, 79-year-olds die.
I was sure he had attained lichdom.
It’s not like someone shot him while hunting or something.
Look at his recent photos. Dude was easily overweight and almost 80. Sooner or later, the actuarial tables tell truth.
That was pretty much how I felt…my subject line on the email to my buddies was “How do I say RIP like I really mean it?”
Yeah, I’m not PROUD of the small but undeniable feeling of gratitude or thankfulness I felt. I’ll tell myself it arose purely from the belief that the upcoming change to the court will benefit a lot of people in this country, so that I don’t feel like a complete piece of shit.
In any case, we’ve lost a great legal mind today. Not one I agreed with on virtually anything, but a great one nonetheless (perhaps all the greater for more often it saw us world differently than me, heh).
Hoo boy. Interesting times.
All politics aside, Antonin Scalia was one of the greatest legal minds of our time. Some of his most recent arguments were, in my opinion, beneath him in terms of the arguments he bothered to write, but his overall legacy is impressive. He had a profound impact on constitutional law.
One of the things that makes me sad is how, recently, there has evolved a partisanship in the public perception of the supreme Court. Even to the extent of people on the right bitching and moaning about Roberts’ decisions.
Hopefully, now that he’s gone, maybe folks can put aside some of the partisanship and look at Scalia’s contributions from a more objective perspective.
I really wish we could get Josh Lyman’s reaction to this.
He was a great mind, that’s for sure. I just disagreed with him on his interpretations and methodology. I think Original Intent is fairly horseshit, especially when it’s effectively impossible to amend the Constitution anymore - a point he agreed on.
I’d still take him over Thomas any day of the week.
We need Donna to remind him about her parents’ cats.
The bookies at Vegas are already saying there’s no chance in hell a Republican Senate will confirm anyone Obama nominates this year.
Hillary wins and nominates Obama. Republican heads asplode!
Whoa. Suppose there’s not enough time to clear a nominee through Congress this year? Because of self-destructive Congressional malice? That would be a big boost for the Democrats, I’m thinking. And yet they can’t just turn over and let a liberal judge in. But if they refuse to act for 10 months or turn away a perfectly qualified candidate they will deserve whatever they get in the polls.