Tom Goldstein has summed it up nicely on SCOTUSblog: http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/02/first-reactions-on-the-passing-of-justice-scalia/
Maybe that will be a good thing for folks who are sick of all the partisan bickering. Who knows–many months before any election and long time before a new president is sworn in.
Well, if that’s the case, then he led an ordinarily long life.
A nice article about the wonderful, yet unlikely, close friendship Ginsberg & Scalia shared
BFFs Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia agree to disagree
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-court-odd-couple-20150622-story.html
NFN, if you look at his photos, one might think that he had edema and one might suspect heart failure.
Dollars to donuts he was told to not retire; then again, I know more than a few people who aren’t Supreme Court Justices picked by the other political party who insist on working until they croak, with dire diagnoses.
I’m not sure it is political or not, but quail in Texas feel safer in the short term…
"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."
The only classy and appropriate thing to say, Romani, is to offer condolences to his family and note that he served this country honorably, even if you disagreed with his points of view. He was a brilliant mind even if you disagreed wIth him.
I don’t generally comment with condolences to family and friends.
Occasionally, in the case of random gun violence or something, I’ll say that my heart breaks for their families. But in general, I don’t see the point in saying to a random forum that I’m sending my condolences. To someone’s face or in a card, absolutely.
My final comment was strictly in the sense of “I will make no commentary about this because, in part, I don’t want the thread to turn political and close.” Nothing more, nothing less.
It didn’t take the White House long to announce their intention to nominate a replacement for Justice Scalia. It will be interesting to see if it’s Jeffrey Toobin’s prediction of Sri Srinivasan, a judge on the DC Circuit who was unanimously approved by the Senate just a few years ago.
I had the opportunity to meet Justice Scalia at a Continuing Legal Education event that he taught about eight years ago. He was a very personable guy and whether one agreed with him or not, he had a brilliant mind. The close friendship between him and Ruth Bader Ginsburg is proof that people with differing world views can still be good friends, and it is an example more of us should emulate.
We need more Scalias and Ginsburgs.
Requiescat in pace
I feel bad for RBG. I loved that they were such good friends. A FB friend of mine just met Scalia a few weeks ago at a conference and said he was really nice (she disagrees very much with his politics).
Without sharing my personal opinion regarding Justice Scalia or his legacy, I will note that I just checked the Constitution, and could not find any provision indicating that a President’s right of appointment (or the Senate’s duty to act – one way or the other – on such an appointment) exists only for the first three years of a Presidential term, and not for the final 25% of that term.
Practically speaking, of course, this means that even without a new appointment by the current President, no Court of Appeals decision upholding any of his policies (administrative or legislative) is likely to be overturned in the next eleven months. 5-4 “liberal” decisions will become 5-3, and 5-4 “conservative” decisions will become 4-4, preserving the status quo.
I just read an interesting article that said justices are more likely to die in office (rather than retire and then die) when a president of the opposing party is in office.
S, an attorney, pointed out to me in our long text exchange over the last few yours, that recent Court rulings have made recess appointments virtually impossible since the rules now allow for the Senate to remain in session even if there is only one small speech every 10 days. He reminded me that not only was Brennan appointed in a recess appointment, but Potter Stewart as well. Likely we will never see another appointment using that approach.
I was initially surprised that the White House announced that the President would be making a nomination on the same day Justice Scalia died, but I guess that is just part of the dance since the Majority Leader had made his views known.
Just saw Bill Clinton’s very classy comment on Scalia’s passing