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Happiegrrrl2
Trad climber
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Feb 13, 2016 - 04:20pm PT
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Condolences to his family and those who cared about him.
It sounds like it was unexpected, but the cause of death "has not been released," according to the linked article. Does anyone know if he had some illness or frailty which would likely have been the cause?
EDIT:
Oh, the cause of death has been reported. He died following a thirty year battle with social progress
http://www.theonion.com/graphic/justice-scalia-dead-following-30-year-battle-socia-52356
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kief
Trad climber
east side
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Feb 13, 2016 - 04:25pm PT
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Obama could stick it to Cruz and Co. by reappointing David Souter, the retired (2009) Republican justice who allied with the liberal wing more often than not and voted against Bush in Bush vs Gore. He is in good health and regularly sits as a judge in the New England circuit of the federal Court of Appeals. Diehard right wingers hate him but his record is so distinguished that he would get enough Republican votes to be confirmed by the Senate.
Unless he does something creative like that Obama has no chance of filling the vacancy.
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dugillian
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Feb 13, 2016 - 04:37pm PT
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Not shedding a tear over that old windbag....
The Re-Butt-plugs can block a nominee for as long as they wish but in the end it does them little good. A 4-4 court just means lower court decisions hold.
If they block it just means the Dems can do the same if Donald Dump or the inbred Cruz ever became the Prez.
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Feb 13, 2016 - 04:38pm PT
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Wow this made a good day even better.
Always a good thing when evil dies. Good riddance to bad rubbish. He was always on my better dead list.
Unfortunate the Senate will not allow a nominee to be accepted. Still a 4-4 tie is better than the 5-4 shitfest we had.
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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Feb 13, 2016 - 04:56pm PT
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Better dead list?
[chuckle]
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Norton
Social climber
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Feb 13, 2016 - 05:06pm PT
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dirtbag is a lawyer!
dirt, can you tell us if there is any eventual requirement that a justice be appointed
and confirmed ?
and do all pending cases continue on as per normal but the only difference being
that a 4-4 tie is now much more likely, and if a justice excuses from a case can
4-3 decisions then become law?
in theory can we end up with NO justices on the court if they all eventually die or quit
and the senate does not "advise and consent"?
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Feb 13, 2016 - 05:15pm PT
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At 79, he was one of the young ones.
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dirtbag
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 13, 2016 - 05:30pm PT
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dirt, can you tell us if there is any eventual requirement that a justice be appointed
and confirmed ?
Not that I know of. I am not sure how the senate could be forced to vote.
and do all pending cases continue on as per normal but the only difference being
that a 4-4 tie is now much more likely, and if a justice excuses from a case can
4-3 decisions then become law?
in theory can we end up with NO justices on the court if they all eventually die or quit
and the senate does not "advise and consent"?
Yes pending cases should continue. 4-4 decisions mean that the appellate court decision prior to Supreme Court review becomes law in that jurisdiction. There is no Supreme Court case law applying nationwide as a result. 4-3 would become law, I think, but I'm actually 100% not sure. That is very rare.
Yes, it could be years before we get new justices. But politically, republican senators in swing states would catch some hell for it.
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dirtbag
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 13, 2016 - 05:39pm PT
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Tmjesse, if they play that game, he should submit a nomination anyway. Make the senate try to cogently explain to the American people why they are willing to prevent a Justice from being seated in a timely manner.
Anyway, a delay to the next president would mean a delay of 342 days plus several months for confirmation. And if Hillary or Bernie is elected, expect added political battles on top of that. Just because.
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10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
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Feb 13, 2016 - 05:59pm PT
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he was too ideological to sit on the court.
So if the repubs want to delay any confirmation, how about this scenario.
A dem gets elected president, and nominates Obama to the sc. If the repubs still control congress, are they still willing to stall? How long?
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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Feb 13, 2016 - 06:04pm PT
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Scalia defended Gerald Ford's executive priveladge claim during the Watergate investigation and kept damaging evidence from being exposed...Nothing wrong with coverups eh antonin..? Scalia voted along Republican party lines pretending that he was following legal precedence...Being elected to the supreme court because of his italian heritage didn't change his opposition to affirmative action...Sorry for his passing but his policy's stunk like sh#t..
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crankster
Trad climber
No. Tahoe
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Feb 13, 2016 - 06:05pm PT
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I don't like to celebrate someone's death, even as reprehensible a person as Scalia. I'm just happy President Obama is in office, although, the do-nothing GOP congress will work to block a nomination. Shows how important it is to elect a Democrat in Nov.
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bergbryce
climber
East Bay, CA
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Feb 13, 2016 - 06:39pm PT
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Good riddance.
Very few deaths make me happy but this is one of them.
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dirtbag
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 13, 2016 - 06:40pm PT
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Feb 13, 2016 - 06:02pm PT
So dirtbag,
Since the vacancy occurred during O's presidency, are the nominees limited to his choices even if none of them are approved by congress before his last term ends, or can the next president add his/her own nominees?
Do O's nominees automatically get the boot with a new president?
I'm not an expert on the nomination process, but I don't see why a nomination couldnt be pulled by a president Cruz or Trump.
Apparently, Obama plans to nominate someone. Good--it should be a very interesting year.
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Splater
climber
Grey Matter
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Feb 13, 2016 - 06:55pm PT
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The longest Supreme court vacancy was over a year, the last year of Tyler's presidency. There were 2 vacancies. Tyler did get one filled, oddly just before the end of his term.
Tyler was referred to by some as "his accidency."
He was elevated from vice pres to pres when Harrison died after only 1 month in office. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyler#Presidential_election.2C_1840
Somewhat similarly, Fillmore became pres in 1850 when Taylor died. There was a vacancy in 1852. Fillmore made a nomination in August when Justice McKinley died in July 1852, however his own party had already picked someone else to run in the Fall election, so they wanted to wait for a new president.
So those cases are different than the existing one. If the Senate delays, it looks like this would be the longest delay for an "Elected" president.
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Splater
climber
Grey Matter
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Feb 13, 2016 - 07:03pm PT
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Evolution quote by Scalia in his 1987 dissent:
"The body of scientific evidence supporting creation science is as strong as that supporting evolution. In fact, it may be stronger…. The evidence for evolution is far less compelling than we have been led to believe. Evolution is not a scientific “fact,” since it cannot actually be observed in a laboratory. Rather, evolution is merely a scientific theory or “guess.”… It is a very bad guess at that. The scientific problems with evolution are so serious that it could accurately be termed a “myth.”
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Feb 13, 2016 - 07:14pm PT
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YIKES!
Supreme Court Justices can say anything they want, so they do.
I'm sure Il Scalia had a boatload of evidence to support his unobservable speculations.
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Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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Feb 13, 2016 - 08:42pm PT
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The longest Supreme court vacancy was over a year, the last year of Tyler's presidency
Perhaps, but was there a nominee? If there's no nominee, the clock doesn't start ticking. Big difference. Sounds like Tyler was lazy or there may have been other reasons to not nominate someone.
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