Last Saturday, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away unexpectedly. And this apparently has set off a fire storm of events. Republicans in the Senate immediately announced they will not appoint anyone that the President appoints.
When will the racism end?
Honestly, the President has a Constitutional obligation to do his duty and nominate a successor to this high post. The front runner on the President's list is a guy that the whole Senate loved. They voted unanimously to endorse him last time to the Appellate Court. Each and every member of the Senate likes this guy. But if the President submits his name, nope. Not if the uppity President endorses him.
So President Obama, having more of a spine than any President before him, will fulfill his duties and and Senate of the United States will demonstrate their partisan racism and not even consider whoever.
Because he's a Democrat. So this poses the larger question. If a Democrat wins the election for the Presidency in the fall, as they will if there's a God in Heaven, does that mean we have to wait another eight years before they will appoint a new Justice?
So today a former Conservative Justice says that the President should do his job and appoint somebody. Sandra Day O'Connor is all behind President Obama that he should do his duty and appoint. Put the ball in their court, so to speak. So the President has vowed to uphold his Constitutional obligations, and the Senate has vowed not to uphold theirs.
If the Senate starts to stall, as they have promised they will, this may not work out for them. Remember when the Government shut down? The public blamed the Republicans for that and their numbers plummeted in the polls. So if they pull this stunt now, they will probably elect a Democrat in the fall.
So as much as I do truly empathize and miss the outspoken Justice Scalia and do think of his wife and nine children and all their familes everyday, I do realize that the guy that would be most outraged by the announcement by the Senate that they were going to shirk their Constitutional responsibility would be Antonin Scalia.
He would be angry and have none of this.
Update: Today it was announced that one of the people being vetted for the Supreme Court nominee is Nevada Governor and former Federal Judge Brian Sandoval. This throws a monkey wrench into everything. Sandoval has quite a right wing history, and left wings groups are reacting harshly. It seems the President is thinking about shoving it in Republicans face, by dangling a Nominee they really want. But having vowed not to even acknowledge anyone that uppity President wants, they'll show him by cutting off their nose to spite their face. The downside is that should the Republicans make themselves look wishy-washy and go ahead and have hearings and vote for the guy, it is Senate Democrats that may likely block the vote. Thankfully this may be just a blip in the polls as opposed to the nose dive the Republicans are risking before the election. If they stand fast they may just hand the White House to the Democrats.
And the drama continues......
