With the unfortunate passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, 79, while on a hunting vacation in West Texas, we see yet another potential food fight in this year’s already contentious presidential election process.
The GOP head of the judicial committee has already said that no nomination from outgoing-president Barrack Obama should be confirmed. No surprise there. The GOP-dominant congress has held up every Obama judicial nominee so far, and this, a nomination that could alter the balance of a slightly right-leaning Supreme Court, is the probably most important judicial appointment of Obama’s tenure.
Scalia, without doubt the most rabidly conservative justice on the court, was one of its most colorful, with witty turns of phrase, and one of its best drafters. In their efforts to maintain the court’s balance, or one imagines, push it even further to the right, the GOP has its task cut out for it. If the current political field is any indication, they will dig deep for someone with credentials that will appeal to the basest of their base, and who is unlikely to have Scalia’s academic credentials, and whether or not you agreed with him (and, believe me, I didn’t) you had to concede his intelligence. I can’t say the same for the GOP’s leading voices these days. Most of these guys sound like they checked their brains at the door, as they trip over each other and their tongues to see who can make the most asinine statement.
In a way, as destructive as the debate might become, I hope the president decides to have this one last fight. Put a highly qualified, competent judge up for the vacancy, and let the fun begin. The vitriol and stupidity that will ensue might be what’s needed to wake people up to just how dangerous these guys are.