.
From the Washington Post, “Battle over Scalia’s replacement already spilling into Senate races”:
… One consideration that may force Republicans to recalibrate their strategy is the prospect of political damage to some of the embattled Senate incumbents up for reelection this fall. Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Rob Portman (Ohio), all Republicans in swing states, have called for the Senate to disregard any Obama nominee. Other Republicans in tight races have remained silent so far…
Americans United for Change, a group closely allied with the White House, is trumpeting an article written by now-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in 1970. McConnell wrote that “the Senate should discount the philosophy of the nominee” and that “the president is presumably elected by the people to carry out a program and altering the ideological direction of the Supreme Court would seem to be a perfectly legitimate part of a presidential platform.”…
Wait a second – am I now allowed to argue that Senators up for reelection this year are lame ducks who don’t deserve a vote on SCOTUS nom?
— Addisu Demissie (@ASDem) February 14, 2016
Gawker has collected a potpourri of “The [Scalia Murder] Conspiracy Theories, Explained” — ranging from the obvious (President Obama’s minions) to the tabloid (recalling Nelson Rockefeller) to the… well, that chupacabra tweet was probably tongue-in-cheek. I hope.
@nickconfessore Have Republicans considered the scenario where they delay confirmation and President Clinton nominates Obama?
— John Hofland (@jdhofland) February 14, 2016
Things I did not know: Michael Dukakis was Scalia’s law school classmate. Man was a revanchist pest, even then…
… I didn’t know who Scalia was until the last semester of my last year, when I took a class called Federal Courts and the Federal System, with a great man named Henry Hart. It is 1960. We are in the middle of the civil rights revolution. And there’s this guy in class who begins engaging Professor Hart every day in these long dialogues over whether it was appropriate for federal judges to reach in and take cases away from Southern criminal courts, in cases where, as everyone knew, if you were a black defendant, forget it. And this went on for about three weeks. [Laughs.] I finally turned to the guy next to me and said, “Who the hell is that guy.” He said, “That’s Scalia, he’s on the law review.” And I said, “Does he know what it’s like to be black in the South?” A bright guy—yeah. But he was to the right of Marie Antoinette for Christ’s sake. There was no consistency in his so-called philosophy…
Golden oldie…
Media Village Idiot, moldy…
Is there any doubt who the "mainstream" media will side w/ on the dispute over whether @BarackObama should get to pick Scalia replacement?
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) February 14, 2016
It's weird because Ted Cruz made such a compelling legal case, citing Unicorn v Rainbow. https://t.co/FwJmdqPdRh
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) February 14, 2016
@pourmecoffee @MarkHalperin Mark! Check out Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of our Constitution explaining the nominations process.
— ParagonOfBubblewick (@TheeErin) February 14, 2016
.@MarkHalperin @BarackObama I’ll confirm your suspicions on the grounds that he doesn’t “get” to do it; it’s his constitutional obligation.
— Jesse Wegman (@jessewegman) February 14, 2016
@MarkHalperin @BarackObama Wait… how are you not mainstream?
— Celeste Headlee (@CelesteHeadlee) February 14, 2016
schrodinger's cat
I hope Obama wins this battle with the Senate, like he did the one with the Iran deal.
billb
Russ Feingold in Wi. is already beating the reThug he is running against with it. As the saying goes, The Beatings Will Continue Until Behavior Improves.
slag
So, after watching his press conference, I watched a recent Obama event at which someone fainted. Every time that happens (which seems to be all the time), he talks about how important it is to bend your knees when you stand for too long, etc, etc.
One lady faints at a Trump event, and he says:
And Republicans complain about Obama being arrogant.
Mike in NC
Reading Fat Tony’s obit was a great pleasure, as will be those of Halperin and the Turtleman.
Mai.naem.mobile
I hope Hillary wins, the Dems take the Senate back and Obama makes a super liberal recess appointment just to make the GOPs heads explode. Ian Millheiser mentioned Jerry Brown’s appointments to the CA Supreme Court. One is Leondra Kruger who is 39 and a minority and the other is a Mexican American guy who was born in Mexico. Just the kind of people the GOP don’t like to see in power.
dr. bloor
@Mai.naem.mobile: Mariano-Florentino Cuellar. And he would be a superb choice.
NotMax
@Mai.naem.mobile
The Republicans will once again game the system see to it that there is no recess and continue pro forma sessions as long as necessary.
Unfortunately.
kindness
I wish the MSM would question the Repubs. And the Talking Heads that act as if it’s a possibility. Naa, to many Chuckie Todds in the world. I’d have figured the Sunday shows would have had some respect for the process but no, they fluffed the Repubs all day.
Doug R
@NotMax: Until someone calls quorum.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mike in NC: Halperin’s rather young and you know how long turtles live; might be awhile.
NotMax
@Doug R
Which would immediately be ruled out of order.
schrodinger's cat
Modi’s India, summed up in two photos
Mnemosyne
@Mai.naem.mobile:
There’s also Goodwin Liu on the CA Supreme Court — the Republicans were so terrified of him that they blocked his appointment to the 9th Circuit since being an appeals judge on one of the major circuit courts is a common route to the Supreme Court. I hope Obama nominates him just for the “fuck you” aspect.
West of the Cascades
I hadn’t really thought about it until earlier today, but this situation probably puts the Iowa Senate seat into play. I don’t think the Democrats have a good candidate yet, but the assumption seems to have been that 83-year-old Chuck Grassley would hold a “safe” R seat. But if he acts utterly irresponsibly when the President submits the nomination – which he almost certainly will, or be coerced into by the rest of the R Senators – combined with his advanced age, he may be ripe for being picked off.
March 18th is the deadlines for candidates to declare. Tom Vilsack? Tom Vilsack?? He handled the Shirley Sherrod “resignation” abominably, but I think he was a reasonably popular governor in Iowa.
Grassley is almost as much of a turd bag as McConnell.
Omnes Omnibus
@billb: Related news: There was a state wide primary today in WI. Deciding who was going to be on the ballot for the Supreme Court during the April 5 Spring Election and Presidential Preference Primary. In a couple of counties, they had some other judicail primaries. While waiting in line (a line for an election like this!) I was talking with the chief inspector wh said that they were expecting a 25% turnout. For an election like this, that is amazing. I think it bodes well.
Howard Appel
There will be full recess between the final adjournment of this Congress and before the next Congress gets sworn in. The Republicans can’t do anything about that one. However, I suspect that Obama, if a republican were elected, would not use a recess appointment. Although the Republicans don’t have any real respect for the Constitution, Obama does.
Soylent Green
My impression, as an employee of his department, and based on his initiatives since then, is that Vilsack deeply regrets his rash behavior in that episode.
randy khan
@NotMax:
While a quorum call might be ruled out of order, then the Dems could challenge the ruling of the chair and if they had an appropriate majority of the Senators present, could overrule the chair. (It might take 2/3 or just 1/2+1.) And I suspect that the only way the chair could make that vote invalid would be to rule that no quorum was present. Of course, it would destroy the decorum of the Senate, blah, blah, blah, but it’s still an interesting idea.
Ramalama
I’ll just repeat what I’ve read from friends on facebook, because it’s awesome: Anita Hill to replace Scalia.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ramalama: Hill should replace Thomas if anyone.
ETA: Also, I really don’t think her career sets her up for an appointment.
The Ancient Randonneur
@NotMax: Not if Biden is in the chamber fulfilling his Constitutinal duties as President Pro Tempore
sempronia
@Mai.naem.mobile:
I know her from high school; you have never met a kinder person.
NotMax
@The Ancient Randonneur
The Veep, when attending the Senate, has NO say (indeed is not permitted to speak on the floor of the chamber) except for breaking a tie vote.
And President Pro Tempore is an entirely different position (generally the title is conferred on the longest serving senator), the purpose of which is to assign someone in the line of succession..
karen marie
@kindness: Are you new here? Since when have the Sunday shows shown any intelligence, much less respect? All Republicans all the time, except for the occasional Dem brought on as a punching bag or as an apologist. “It’s a Republican admin, so we have to give them the floor,” “It’s a Dem admin, so we have to let the opposition be heard.” I am surprised they have as much viewership as they do,and it’s pretty low. The shows seem significant due to amplification through repetition of CW thrown up each week.
FlipYrWhig
@West of the Cascades: Say, what if there was a presidential candidate whose entire pitch was that by getting new voters to come out of the woodwork a better, more progressive politics could emerge, and who had recently been in Iowa? Maybe that person could help light a fire under Grassley’s withered ass.