Antonin Scalia dead

[Greenday]

As for Sanders and Hillary, Hillary is starting to make the same mistakes she did in 2008 and it isn't a good look. The two of them have been doing a fairly decent job of not trying to utterly destroy each other though. Its a surprisingly stark generational divide between the two poll wise though.

Sanders is not doing any mudslinging. The same can't be said about Hilary. She's taking plenty of pot shots at Sanders, though she isn't be vicious about it.

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

Sanders is not doing any mudslinging. The same can't be said about Hilary. She's taking plenty of pot shots at Sanders, though she isn't be vicious about it.

The difference is Sanders has both the press with the e-mails and his supporters to do that work for him. It's a scenario he'll never face again in the general election or in any other. Fox doesn't care about him... yet. MSNBC and CNN may start vetting him more, but they're not doing much so far. My personal favorite so far has been NPR asking a Clinton college supporter if she felt that Clinton was in danger of being considered "not cool." Really?

The problem is, whether Bernie's supporters do it or the man does it himself, it's actually been fairly nasty in terms of ad hominem towards Clinton at least (Didn't yet another batch of e-mails get released last week?). And that may have consequences for either candidate that survives. Unless he takes a more active stance towards the press (Republicans actually do this now) and his own supporters, the fact he wasn't directly involved may not fix alienated Clinton voters. It's sort of like a CEO saying "I had no idea my store managers were committing wage theft. That's not company policy!"

I really don't mind the mild jabs at each other (politics is politics). But I do think for both candidates sake, Bernie may do very well for his long term prospects to really address is turning into a dirty campagn by proxy. It won't hurt/help him considerably in the primary, but if he actually survives to the general he needs that bridge building.

That said, I'm only thinking in terms of the general when I say that. I get both candidates desire to allow tactics that create voter suppression. It's a pretty classic technique and one Karl Rove mastered. And I think that's where the Republican's behavior re: Scalia is coming from. Their pollsters are starting to see that effect. If they can survive not allowing a nomination through, they're not going to let a nomination through.

[Talon]

Aaaand the idiocy continues.

Kory Langhofer, an attorney who worked on the failed Romney campaign, went on KPNX and argued, with a straight face, that Scalia can still cast votes from the grave.

http://crooksandliars.com/2016/02/la...uld-let-scalia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGX_YaYLXk8

Voting from the grave. Sounds like something out of North Korea. Or the game Final Fantasy 10

[Kheldarson]

Actually, I read something about that too. The issue is how the Court does its votes. So it becomes reliant on how far each case is, what Scalia has written, and if the Court would want to rehear the case.

[s_stabeler]

Maybe, but the lawyer's statement was specifically about Scalia's vote being used as a tiebreaker. I can see inferring Scalia's vote where it doesn't actually change the outcome of the vote- so, for example, if it turns a 5-3 split into a 6-3 but not to turn a 4-4 deadlock into a 5-4 split.

It also becomes far more morally murky to infer Scalia's votes when the entire reason you want to infer the votes- as far as I can tell- is because you believe that Scalia's replacement will rule differently. I'm sorry, but in a lower court, the judge dropping dead means the case is reheard by another judge. The same should apply to the Supreme Court- if the death of a judge causes a deadlock in a case, it should be suspended until a new judge is appointed. (if it's an appeal against a death sentence, then the sentence should be automatically stayed until a verdict can be reached- I'm thinking of requests for emergency stays here, mostly, since i think that death sentences are automatically stayed if an appeal is pending anyway)

[ben_who]

It's a shame such a nomination would almost certainly never actually go through. (though, if the moderate Republicans fancy making the Tea Party shit bricks... ) Why? Simple. Nominating Obama is more-or-less Filibuster-Bait. (On the other hand, there's always the technique if nominating Obama, then someone else unacceptable to the Republicans (Bill Clinton comes to mind as another candidate that would really piss off the Republicans) THEN, seemingly reluctantly, nominate the person you actually have in mind- making the republicans accept the nomination out of fear of who else might get nominated.

I always wondered whether George W. Bush nominated Harriet Miers to make Samuel Alito seem palatable. Conservatives barely concealed the fact that a huge reason they threw so much support behind Bush was because they wanted another Scalia, and Alito has been called "Scalito" in the past. In fact, with Scalia gone, you can make a pretty good case that Alito is now the most conservative member of the court.

[Canarr]

Apparently, conservatives want to get it on that whole, "Don't traumatize mah feelings!" thing at US colleges. And over Scalia, of all people:

https://theintercept.com/2016/02/23/...mand-remedies/

Although this email was upsetting to us, we could only imagine what it was like for these students. Some of them are 22-year-old 1Ls, less than six months into their legal education. But we did not have to wait long to find out. Leaders of the Federalist Society chapter and of the student Republicans reached out to us to tell us how traumatized, hurt, shaken, and angry, were their fellow students. Of particular concern to them were the students who are in Professor Peller’s class who must now attend class knowing of his contempt for Justice Scalia and his admirers, including them. How are they now to participate freely in class? What reasoning would be deemed acceptable on their exams? …

Sadly, as just two professors on a faculty of 125, we are in no position to offer much reassurance to our students, beyond reporting that we have heard on the faculty email list, and privately, from a few of our Georgetown colleagues who objected to these messages. All we can do, really, is convey our solidarity with our wonderful students. We share your pain. We share your anger. We stand with you. You are not alone. Be strong as Justice Scalia was strong. Remember, he heard far worse about himself than we have, and yet never wavered in both his convictions and his joy for life.

But make no mistake: Civil discourse at Georgetown has suffered a grievous blow. It is a time for mourning indeed.