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Justice Scalia Dies

D

Diamond

The Red Baron
Antonin Scalia has died and it looks like Obama, a liberal, will be able to appoint a liberal justice in his place, whereas he was conservative (appointed by Reagan).

This is a really, really big deal in terms of US constitutional law and US law in general.
 
coley said:
Thought the appointment of SCJs was a presidents prerogative?
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It is, but with the "advice and consent" of the Senate.

What that effectively means is that the President gets to nominate a candidate, but the Senate then has to approve that candidate. In the current political climate, with the Republicans holding 54 Senate seats, a general election coming in 9 months, and some really big issues (abortion, healthcare, political campaign funding, to name a few) set to come before the Supreme Court, this is going to be a major clusterfuck.

As for Scalia, i'd like to quote the great American lawyer Clarence Darrow:

"I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction."
 
mhendo said:
It is, but with the "advice and consent" of the Senate.

What that effectively means is that the President gets to nominate a candidate, but the Senate then has to approve that candidate. In the current political climate, with the Republicans holding 54 Senate seats, a general election coming in 9 months, and some really big issues (abortion, healthcare, political campaign funding, to name a few) set to come before the Supreme Court, this is going to be a major clusterfuck.

As for Scalia, i'd like to quote the great American lawyer Clarence Darrow:

"I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction."
Click to expand...
Ta, appreciate the info, and love the quote:)
 
Based entirely on what I saw in House of Cards, I think the president can appoint a justice as soon as congress is in recess (which is an American phrase for playtime).

IIRC Harry Reid changed the senate rules when he was leader regarding appointments to straight majority, meaning the democrats need seven.
 
Just looking at the history a little, I see Nixon had two of his nominees rejected for issues including their support for racial segregation.
 
I just read something that suggests Obama could appoint a justice for a year with no need for confirmation. No idea what that's all about. Will try to find out more.

Anyway. Very interesting news.
 
And one of Dubya's nominees had to withdraw because she was his close personal friend and personal lawyer who was entirely unqualified for the role.
 
elbows said:
And one of Dubya's nominees had to withdraw because she was his close personal friend and personal lawyer who was entirely unqualified for the role.
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Scalia was a fuck nut his justification for his homosexual prejudice was breathtaking

Plus he once defended the use of torture by Jack Bauer on 24 as justifiable

Scalia and Torture
 
Mitch McConnell et al are suggesting that to honour Scalia's memory his replacement should be nominated by the next president, not Obama.

Gordon Bennet.
 
At least one of Reagans scary nominees never made it. Instead he gave us the word 'borked' and this rant from Ted Kennedy:

Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is—and is often the only—protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy ... President Reagan is still our president. But he should not be able to reach out from the muck of Irangate, reach into the muck of Watergate and impose his reactionary vision of the Constitution on the Supreme Court and the next generation of Americans. No justice would be better than this injustice.
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Reading his wiki page, he sounded quite mad.

In 2002, in Atkins v. Virginia, the Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional as applied to the mentally retarded. Scalia dissented, stating that it would not have been considered cruel or unusual to execute the mildly mentally retarded at the time of the 1791 adoption of the Bill of Rights, and that the Court had failed to show that a national consensus had formed against the practice
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Yeah, well they had no problem with slavery at the time of the 1791 adoption of the Bill of Rights. Odd to give a fuck about them.

France are on their fifth republic now. US still have their first, and its oddness shows. 'Well Citizen Robespierre was of this opinion, and I see no reason to think differently now.'
 
littlebabyjesus said:
Yeah I know, but it's the one this fucknut subscribed to. It exists as a dangerous idea still, one that fills lecture theatres, reading about Scalia.
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True, I am amazed that anyone more intelligent than a slug could support it. I mean even leaving aside the desirability or not of such an interpretation it's impossible to apply in practice. However, much Scalia and co would like it they aren't 18th Century gentlemen, they are products of the 20th Century.
 
Ok I remember now, Obama will need 4 senators to cross the aisle to get a nominee passed. He needs a 50-50 vote, plus Biden's vote.
 
redsquirrel said:
True, I am amazed that anyone more intelligent than a slug could support it. I mean even leaving aside the desirability or not of such an interpretation it's impossible to apply in practice. However, much Scalia and co would like it they aren't 18th Century gentlemen, they are products of the 20th Century.
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Parallels with religious laws - what some men thought hundreds of years ago is what counts.
 
Vintage Paw said:
Mitch McConnell et al are suggesting that to honour Scalia's memory his replacement should be nominated by the next president, not Obama.

Gordon Bennet.
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:D Almost admire the cheek.

Do you know what the calculation is? You need four Republicans - which ones, what would they want in return?
 
elbows said:
At least one of Reagans scary nominees never made it. Instead he gave us the word 'borked' and this rant from Ted Kennedy:
Click to expand...

Bork is a major influence in my area, antitrust, but I was not aware of his specific views on those topics, which, as far as I understand (admittedly very vaguely), flow from originalism
 
littlebabyjesus said:
:D Almost admire the cheek.

Do you know what the calculation is? You need four Republicans - which ones, what would they want in return?
Click to expand...


My guess would be all GOP Senators will actually stand pat. Fine by me, they've got 24 up for election. Then they have to stay in DC to avoid a recess appointment (not sure on the specifics but there was a scotus case in 2014 saying Obama would need to wait 10 days) meaning they can't physically campaign back home.
 
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