By Greg Horner, Informer.
I was going to write this piece about something important, but then Justice Antonin Scalia died and I just couldn’t resist. There were a lot of things that I didn’t like about the man, his views on gay rights were appalling, his decisions in regard to civil rights were atrocious and his handling of the second amendment was criminal. But the impact of Scalia cannot be overstated, and neither can the impact of his death.
When a Supreme Court justice dies, it’s a tragedy. When a Supreme Court justice dies right before landmark cases on abortion, affirmative action and the affordable care act, it’s a catastrophe. When a Supreme Court justice dies during one of the craziest presidential elections in history, it’s a shitshow.
Scalia was a celebrity. He earned the praise of Republicans, and the scorn of Democrats. As a leading member of the court’s conservative bloc, he did his best to move the country to the right when casting the deciding votes in cases defending gun rights and limiting abortion access. Now President Obama has the duty to name Scalia’s successor.
The idea of Obama replacing the court’s most notorious conservative with anyone more progressive than a corpse, has Republicans frothing. I can’t blame them. Appointing Supreme Court justices is one of the most important (and often ignored)responsibilities of the president, with implications that will affect the country for decades after he leaves office.
Scalia was appointed by Reagan in 1986, almost 30 years ago exactly. A lot has changed since the coke-fueled “greed is good” glory days of the 80s, but until last week, one of the things that hadn’t changed was the Supreme Court.
Some of y’all might be asking, “Greg, what’s the big deal? Obama has appointed other Supreme Court justices before?” Oh you stupid, stupid fools. I know this isn’t Obama’s first rodeo, but I also know he’s never ridden a bull this big before either.
Replacing two old liberals with two younger (slightly less) liberals is easy. Replacing a conservative gargoyle with a (slightly more) liberal justice could swing the court closer to the left and impact government policy for another 30 years to come.
It’s no wonder Republicans are losing their minds. From Presidential wannabes like Cruz to Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, every Republican who’s any Republican is demanding that the president abstain from appointing a nominee until someone else is in office.
It is the president’s constitutional duty to appoint new justices and for the Senate to approve them in a timely fashion. You don’t get to hold off on this process because the timing’s bad, or because you’re desperately trying to keep a grip on power.
The GOP isn’t going to be satisfied with any of the president’s picks, so Obama should just go all out. He should nominate the most left-leaning justice imaginable, if nothing else he should at least use this chance to troll Republicans one last time. Nominate Oprah, nominate Lenin’s freeze-dried corpse, nominate Kim Kardashian for all I care—the point is that it’s up to the president, and that isn’t going to change.
Also, there’s no reason to think that a Republican will ever serve in the White House again, they’re certainly doing their absolute worst to win the presidency this year. Seriously, it’s pretty presumptuous and a little delusional for Republicans to think that delaying the nomination will make a considerable difference.
