Antonin Scalia dead

[Kheldarson]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-can...e=news_central

So now we have a Justice slot open in the middle of election season. This ought to make things interesting...

[Gravekeeper]

The GOP has already announced that under no circumstances will they let Obama nominate a new justice. Because it would not be fair to the American people. Because the American people "should have a voice" in the selection process.

You know, cus the American people's voice doesn't count unless they voted R last election.

Dickbags.

[Kheldarson]

I'm not surprised. So I guess the Court will be on hold until next year. Because that's fair to us...

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Someone on another forum I frequent mentioned the theoretical possibility of the next President nominating Obama for the court and the Republicans shitting bricks.

I have to admit, there's a certain poetry to that.

[Rapscallion]

Well, he is a constitutional scholar and all that.

Rapscallion

[Jetfire]

Well from what I've heard, with 8 justices now and no tiebreakers, it means that Lower court rulings will stand when the Supreme Court ties. And a lot of those courts are now leaning D for what its worth.

Really, the GOP is in a Lose Lose Lose situation now.

* Prevent any nomination until after the election? Lower courts win ties, and they're more likely to rule left than right as it is now.

* Let Obama pick someone? Tilt the Supreme Court to the left (5-4 theoretically I believe) until the next judge dies.

* Wait until after the election and D's win? See the first two points, even if they can stall it. Plus added salt if Hillary or Sanders nominates Obama. (I suspect Michelle might have Words With Them if they were to do that; but oh the entertainment that would cause)

* Wait until after the election and Trump wins? Unknown situation, probably bad for all.

* Wait until after the election and not-Trump them win? Best case scenario, and least likely at this point in time it seems.

[s_stabeler]

Someone on another forum I frequent mentioned the theoretical possibility of the next President nominating Obama for the court and the Republicans shitting bricks.

I have to admit, there's a certain poetry to that.

It's a shame such a nomination would almost certainly never actually go through. (though, if the moderate Republicans fancy making the Tea Party shit bricks... ) Why? Simple. Nominating Obama is more-or-less Filibuster-Bait. (On the other hand, there's always the technique if nominating Obama, then someone else unacceptable to the Republicans (Bill Clinton comes to mind as another candidate that would really piss off the Republicans) THEN, seemingly reluctantly, nominate the person you actually have in mind- making the republicans accept the nomination out of fear of who else might get nominated.

[TheHuckster]

Wait until after the election and Trump wins? Unknown situation, probably bad for all.

Well, assuming he gets a network to agree to it, I bet he would make a reality TV show about it. I'm already counting on him making some Apprentice Cabinet Edition if he, god forbid, gets in.

[Jetfire]

Well, assuming he gets a network to agree to it, I bet he would make a reality TV show about it. I'm already counting on him making some Apprentice Cabinet Edition if he, god forbid, gets in.

That is both intriguing and scary at the same time.

The weekly challenges from the Judge-testants would be a Hot Bench style court setting where cases are presented and they have to decide how to rule or something.

[Gravekeeper]

They're really setting themselves up for a massive fall here. This is their chance to get a new sitting justice that is at least moderate instead of full left. If they don't take this chance they are rolling the dice on the White House ( and with their clown car of a candidate line up that is not a good bet to be making ).

If they ( most likely ) lose the White House again they're getting a liberal nominee whether they like it or not. But its actually worse than that.

There's 3 justices in the 75+ range. Ginsburg (82), Kennedy (79) and Breyer (77). Chances are good one or more are going to step down or check out over the next 4-8 years. With a Dem in the White House, the nominees will be left leaning. If the GOP loses the White House again this time around they are *not* getting it back. Ever. Not without a total rebuild of the party.

So they're risking not only this seat going left, but potentially another 1-3 seats going left over the next 1-2 presidential terms. At which point even if they get the WH back by some miracle they have 20-30 years of a left leaning Supreme Court to deal with.

They should take what they can get now instead of gambling on the American people finally seeing the light of Real America(tm). But they're so caught up in their own fantasies at this point. They didn't learn shit from the last election cycle and were genuinely surprised they lost.

Yet they somehow think think that hey, if we just go even MORE to the right wing extreme then this time for sure!

[Daskinor]

Well the Public Union case they railroaded through to the supreme court is going down. And looking at the docket for the year, an 8 person court is not good for GOP. Many sure win cases are very much in question.

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

Weirdly enough I think this is the Sanders influence. There were definitively reservations amongst conservatives going in against a relatively untested Hillary Clinton after the Republicans had finished demolishing each other. But Sanders resurgence with the liberal base of the Democratic party has essentially put a light at the end of the tunnel for a lot of Republicans that feel they can win with most of their candidates against him specifically, or a hamstrung Clinton compromised by a really ugly campaign.

But the idea of running out the clock is stupid unless you think the candidate that gets dumped out against you in the primaries isn't that much of a threat which I do believe is the thinking at this point. If Sanders wins, they don't fear him because he presents too easy a target in terms of the fly-over states and the fact he's up front about his socialist leanings. And Sanders needs to be able to take Ohio or Florida or Nevada. Despite whatever message he has that resonates, the US isn't quite there yet. And at this point, I do believe even amongst Bernie and Hillary supporters that both camps are doing such an unbelievable job of antagonizing each other, that either one that survives is going to come out weaker. How can you get Sanders supporters spouting off about Clinton being untrustworthy to rabidly turn out the vote if it's Clinton? How do you get Clinton's moderates to if it's Sanders? For the record, this is often how Democrats lose elections in that they either are complicit in or outmaneuvered into the supression of their own electorate (either through legal means or apathy.)

The problem is, the Democrats always had one job this election. It was to grab the next few Supreme court justices because Ginsburg was probably going to come up soon as well. They've now screwed around with their identity politicing to the point not only are they vulnerable, the Republicans are actually calculating they can take the political hit in the short term and still take the Presidency. The fact they even feel they can make this play is the concerning thing, not the fact that they're doing it. Maneuvers in the end are maneuvers. You'd better believe they had projections they liked.

[Gravekeeper]

The fact they even feel they can make this play is the concerning thing, not the fact that they're doing it. Maneuvers in the end are maneuvers. You'd better believe they had projections they liked.

I have to admit I'm not quite that worried about it. The GOP are full circle in huffing their own farts territory. They had projections they liked about Romney too but they got them by only paying attention to projections they liked. Then ended up genuinely surprised they lost the election.

As it stands, they don't have a single candidate that is palatable at a national level. Let alone one who hasn't been providing a god damn highlight reel of awful quotes they can run ad nasuem in political ads after the primaries.

As for Sanders and Hillary, Hillary is starting to make the same mistakes she did in 2008 and it isn't a good look. The two of them have been doing a fairly decent job of not trying to utterly destroy each other though. Its a surprisingly stark generational divide between the two poll wise though.

While yes, the 40+ crowd may not be entirely ready for Bernie's socialism, but the millennial crowd sure as heck is it seems. And thats a demographic thats classically politically apathetic and piss poor at turning out. If they actually turn out it could be a weird election.

[Ree]

Well, I'm just tired of the tinfoil hat brigade crying murder.

Just stop!
No, I mean it.
Shut up.
Now!

[Daskinor]

But no one takes a nap during the day with a pillow on their head!!!~!!~!~!~!!!~!~!~!