Reports say the Justice has died of natural causes at the age of 79.
In the interests of keeping this apolitical, that is all I will say.
Don’t even look to see what causes Wikipedia says he died of. Trust me.
Well, that was a quick edit on their part! PM me if you want to know what it said.
Not seeing other articles yet…
Oops, this is the first one that comes up on Google, and it is the same as Romani’s link., but NBC just interrupted their coverage of snowboarding from Fenway Park to report it.
They’re just saying ‘of natural causes’ on the special reports on tv.
It’s on CNN now.
I see dozens of articles (admittedly, they all might be reprints of this one- haven’t looked).
NBC just reported it, too.
My D says TX governor confirmed. Game changer.
That district judge who says in the linked article that his educated guess is that nothing will happen until after the presidential election is dreaming.
I am shocked but not surprised, if that makes sense. Justice Scalia was a long-time smoker.
The Senate has the power to stop any nomination.
They will do that. It wouldn’t surprise me if they manage to stop it until the next president. It wouldn’t surprise me one little bit.
I think there’s a slightly higher chance of aliens flying over the White House again than Obama being able to appoint someone.
I don’t know if they can get away with that. Confirmation of SCOTUS justices usually only takes a couple of months after they are formally submitted to Congress. Sotomayor’s took about 10 weeks. Kagen’s took about 12 weeks.
I don’t think there’s any mechanism that can force the Senate to approve a new SCOTUS.
What’s going to happen? Their approval ratings will go down?
The talking heads on CNN pretty much agree with @romanigypsyeyes’ bets.
Saw this quote from him online that I thought funny. Maybe I should have had more than dos chicos.
“In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it’s not perfect, that’s okay, there are a lot more coming along.”
When the Senate refuses to confirm, it will be 10 plus months until a new President takes office, and months after that until a new SJ would be confirmed. Meanwhile, the court is left with 4-4 split and pending cases will just be referred back to the decision of the lower court.
Can’t believe it. 
New York Times is now reporting it, too.
As always, political comments are not allowed and will be deleted.
This saddens me because 1) I know it has saddened Justice Ginsburg and 2) it reminds me that she is vulnerable.
I rarely (if ever) agreed with Scalia and completely reject originalism, but I did find him to be an interesting, highly intelligent, and entertaining Justice. May he rest in peace.
During the Eisenhower administration, Justice William Brennan was originally appointed as a recess appointment and then later confirmed by the Senate. I wonder if the President would consider such an appointment if he can’t get a permanent nominee through to allow for 9 justices for the remainder of his term. Probably a wild idea in this day & time.