Photo Courtesy of CNN
Antonin Scalia, the first Italian-American Supreme Court Justice and longest serving Justice of the current Court, died on February 12 of natural causes at the age of 79 at a Texas Ranch. Scalia’s death came as an enormous surprise to Washington and the country, however, his death turned political only hours afterward. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said in a tweet shortly after news of Scalia broke, that the next president should nominate a Justice and current President Barack Obama should not. This sentiment has been widely circulated in conservative circles and condemned in liberal ones. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others said it would do the constitution an injustice to not nominate someone immediately to fill the vacancy. President Obama has stated that he intends to nominate a judge and expects a vote on the Senate floor. It will be a large role for the next justice to fill, whenever that time comes.
Antonin Scalia was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1986 and confirmed by a unanimous 98-0 senate vote, per The New York Times and was seen as the most staunch and brilliant conservative mind on the bench. A prominent follower of “originalism,” Scalia believed that the constitution should be interpreted exactly how the writers would have when the document was first written, ac-cording to The New York Times. This meant siding with the conservative side of the court during nearly every case, and writing the most fiery and linguistically in-tense dissents the court has ever seen. Only two justices in the history of the court have written more dissents than Scalia, and no one wrote them with more force. Per Politico, in the King v. Burwell case, which upheld part of the Affordable Care Act, Scalia called the majority opinion “pure applesauce.” He also said that the majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges that made Gay marriage legal “has to diminish this Court’s reputation for clear thinking and sober analysis.”
Many terms have been used in the weeks since Scalia’s passing. “Legal Titan,” “brilliant conservative mind,” and “definition of a patriot” are all among them. Even though democrats almost always disagreed with his opinion, they saw Scalia as one of the great voices of the Court. Bill Clinton said he liked Scalia’s ability to have “honest arguments” and current Vice President Joe Biden said he admired Scalia for their “shared belief that sharp debates, tough questions and deep respect for the adversarial process,” which were important to the “rule of law,” according to The Los Angeles Times.
Oddly enough, one of Scalia’s best friends was Supreme Court Justice and Liberal hero Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She called them “best buddies” and said that Scalia made her a better Justice of the Court. It has also been reported by NPR and the Washington Post that Scalia and Ginsburg were very close outside of the Court, sharing laughs and meals.
Scalia’s death has implications for the next quarter century at the very least. If a new judge is not nominated and confirmed, it will leave the court with eight members and no potential tiebreaker that could foster a 5-4 decision. Democrats say that it is the duty of the senate to confirm a justice so that the Court may continue to take cases. Republicans say that it should be the voice of the American people who help choose the next Justice, which would mean waiting until January of 2017. Democrats want a Justice now in case a Republican takes the White House, while Republicans hope that they will win and can appoint a conservative judge come 2017. Needless to say, the debate has become glaringly partisan, with accusations of obstructionist behavior and pettiness flying from both sides. Per The New Republic, mathematically it will be virtually impossible for President Obama to get a judge confirmed due to the Republican majority in the Senate. Multiple Republicans would have to not vote the party line, a move seen as increasingly unlikely in this bitter partisan fight.
At the center of that fight are Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and McConnell. Schumer is on video giving a 2007 speech saying that the Democrats should deny any attempted confirmation of Bush court nominees. According to Politico, this is coming back to bite Schumer, as he has been on the front lines of the battle to get a vote on the Senate floor. Republicans are using Schumer’s speech to justify their own refusal to hold a confirmation hearing. Mitch McConnell responded in 2007 by saying that “all of these judges deserve an up or down vote,” per Politico, a quote the democrats are using to show that McCon-nell is flip-flopping on the issue. Schumer is the presumptive successor to Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and it remains to be seen if he can weather this storm of criticism.
A short list of potential nominees has been compiled by many different publications. Some of the standout names include cur-rent Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and former Attorney General Eric Holder. Both of these nominations would stand virtually zero chance of being confirmed. On the more moderate side is Sri Srinivasan, who was unanimously confirmed 97-0 to the Federal Appeals Court in D.C. Additionally, there is Paul Watford who is a Judge for the 9th circuit and has moderate appeal. Both of these choices are 48 years old and minorities, with Srinivasan an Indian-American and Paul Watford an African-American. These young moderates could hurt the public view of Republicans if they were to block their nominations.
Although he has said no, there is one nomination that Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton believes would make a great choice. Who? Our current President, Mr. Barack Obama himself. He studied Constitutional Law at Harvard and Clinton said she loved the idea of him as a nominee. Of course, Mr. Obama ruled it out immediately, but it makes for an interesting conversation if Clinton finds her-self in the White House in 2017.