Press speculation as to whether Republican Senators will allow President Obama to appoint a Supreme Justice to replace Antonin Scalia is not just misguided, but downright silly. Republican Senators are not making this decision; the roster of billionaire SuperPac Republican donors are the “deciders” here and they will not allow any Republican Senator (or presidential candidate) to even flirt with allowing Obama to make such appointment.
Through last year, a small group of billionaire donors have spent $181 million on just the Republican primaries, and hundreds of millions more will be spent before the end of the general election.
All told, the super PACs supporting Bush, Paul and the now-defunct campaigns for the GOP presidential nomination of Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, George Pataki, Rick Perry and Scott Walker raised $181 million through the end of 2015 ― the period covered by the most recent Federal Election Commission filings.
The number above does not capture the millions spent electing Republican Senators and, yes, judges. (Scalia notably passed away at the posh ranch of Texas multimillionaire John Poindexter, who was hosting an event for 35 to 40 “very substantial business people” who “were sympathetic to [Scalia’s] views.”)
Billionaires are not spending hundreds of millions of dollars to enact their political agenda only to watch President Obama make an appointment that will swing the Supreme Court to Democratic leaning.
Any Republican Senator that allowed President Obama to appoint a Supreme Court justice would find all that billionaire SuperPac money disappear and instead go to a now rich primary challenger. In other words, asking and debating whether the Republican Senate will allow President Obama to appoint Scalia’s replacement is a make-believe exercise; the decision has already been made for them by their donors.
And that is where the true narrative here becomes plain. The reason why the U.S. Supreme Court will remain with only eight members for at least a year or more is because Justice Scalia and his Republican cohorts on the Court rendered the Citizens United decision that allowed a small group of billionaires to control the Supreme Court itself.
Is this cruel irony? Or simply another predictable consequence of that atrocious decision? I guess it is both. It is important to repeat perhaps the most indefensible premise of the Citizens United majority opinion:
For the reasons explained above, we now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.
Well thought out . . . Scalia and crew. And as a result of this inane gift handed to the ultra-wealthy class, the U.S. Supreme Court itself is now being held captive by the corrupt interests of a handful of mega-rich donors.
That is a perfect legacy for Justice Scalia.
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