First, let us join millions of other conservative Americans in extending our prayers to God The Father on behalf of, and our sincerest thoughts and condolences to, the family and friends of Justice Scalia on his passing into, God willing, His presence through the death, resurrection, and cleansing blood of His only begotten Son. (We take it for granted that the rest of America is either celebrating and high-fiving and throwing drunken parties and bacchanalia, or saying, "Who's Antonin Scalia?".). Rest in peace, Mr. Justice. Your heroic work and stands for and courageous articulation of constitutionalism over the past three decades was unparalled. You were a patriot and a true originalist, and your name will, in Klingon terms, by written of in story and song. You will never be forgotten.
The man who will, God willing, appoint his replacement, Ted Cruz, eulogized Scalia just as effusively:
"A champion of our liberties and a stalwart defender of the Constitution, he will go down as one of the few Justices who single-handedly changed the course of legal history,"
As to the political fallout and ramifications, let us say this....
The details:
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, seventy-nine, was found dead on Saturday in Texas, the San Antonio Express-News reported, citing a U.S. district court judge.
Scalia was a guest at the Cibolo Creek Ranch, a resort in the Big Bend region south of Marfa. MySanAntonio.com said he died of apparent natural causes. Scalia arrived at the ranch on Friday and attended a private party with about forty people, the website of the San Antonio Express News said. When he did not appear for breakfast, a person associated with the ranch went to his room and found a body.
The U.S. Marshal Service, the Presidio County sheriff and the FBI were involved in the investigation, according to the report.
Officials with the law enforcement agencies declined to comment.
I'm not going to say that the reason why federal law enforcement officials declined to comment is because they were the ones who killed Scalia for two reasons: (1) If Barack Obama was going to order a Putin-esque "hit" on the Reagan-appointed Olympian, he would have done it long, long before now; and (2) he'd have had the CIA do it in any case.
One thing I can say is that this is The One's expression at this very moment:
"Thank you, Allah, thank you, Allah, thank you Allah, thank you...."
Because now the "fundamental transformation" of the United States Supreme Court will, in the words of Darth Vader, "be complete".
My prediction for Scalia's replacement? Obama offers Hillary Clinton a choice: Get out of Bernie Sanders' way and accept an appointment to Scalia's open seat, or your fat, wrinkled ass is going to jail over Emailgate. It's precisely the sort of corrupt quid pro quo that is emblematic of the Obamunist Democrat Party, and it would clear the decks for a much more electable (especially vis-a-vie Donald Trump) nominee, who is much more in tune with the Donk base, to keep the White House, and the country, in Marxist hands. Heck, that way O wouldn't need to cancel the 2016 election.
Could Chuck Grassley's Senate Judiciary Committee stall this for nine or more months? Or have the QujmeH moQ to vote his nominees down, one after another, in the desperate hope that Ted Cruz makes it to the White House?
C3PO provides the answer.....
UPDATE: Marco Rubio's statement:
“Today, our nation has suffered a deep loss. Justice Scalia was one of the most consequential Americans in our history and a brilliant legal mind who served with only one objective: to interpret and defend the Constitution as written. One of the greatest honors in my life was to attend oral arguments during Town of Greece v. Galloway and see Justice Scalia eloquently defend religious freedom. I will hold that memory forever. The next president must nominate a justice who will continue Justice Scalia’s unwavering belief in the founding principles that we hold dear. Jeanette and I mourn the loss of Justice Scalia, and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Maureen and his family.”
UPDATE II: "TrusTed" throws down the gauntlet:
Justice Scalia was an American hero. We owe it to him, & the nation, for the Senate to ensure that the next president names his replacement.
UPDATE III: It sounds like Mitchie The Kid is listening - for now:
“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”
Let's say McConnell and Senate Republicans do hold the line and put the matter on proverbial ice - no Judiciary Committee vote, no floor vote. All that means is that they won't be complicit in Obama sticking Hillary Clinton (or whichever leftwingnut oligarchist) in Justice Scalia's seat. That doesn't mean it isn't still going to happen. There are at least a couple of ways that it could, by one of which it will.
1) He'll declare the Senate to be out of session, regardless of whether or not they are, and make a recess appointment. Probably next August, when Congress traditionally takes the month off anyway and after the general presidential campaign has begun, and after the Left has had six months to whip up their base into an even more rabid frenzy over "GOP obstructionism," to say nothing of bringing a lot of low-information voters along with them, at which time this move will enjoy large majority public support (i.e. "It's not fair," "The president's nominee deserves an up or down vote," "The Republicans are racists," etc. - you know the drill. And, let's be honest, my Tea Party friends, aside from that last slur, if the positions were switched, wouldn't we be saying pretty much the same thing?). With Cruz as our nominee, he will excoriate the recess appointment on principal, and get destroyed for it in November; with Trump as our nominee and new titular party head, he'll "make a deal" ending GOP opposition to it (i.e. he'll throw McConnell under the bus) because he'll want to get out in front of public opinion and won't want to hitch his candidacy to an unpopular stance in the campaign's home stretch. Checkmate.
Only one potential drawback to this scenario: The SCOTUS, ironically, has already unanimously slapped O down for making illicit non-recess appointments back in 2012 (to the National Labor Relations Board). Would such be the case here with dramatically higher stakes? Would you count on Ginsberg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan maintaining that objectivity? If they don't - and I think that would be probable - then the SCOTUS deadlocks, and The One's recess appointment stands.
2) Same scenario except Obama doesn't make the recess appointment. He's not going to withdraw his nominee; even if he wasn't narcissistically pigheaded and supremely confident, based on the track record of previous confrontations with congressional Republicans (i.e. aside from losing to John Boehner in the 2011 debt ceiling/sequester bout, he's undefeated). Doing so would impact Democrat momentum if Sanders is the nominee and kill Hillary's, given that the only way she can win it is by screwing Sanders via the "superdelegate" route, which would almost certainly ignite a Donk civil war and another 1968-esque "Days of Rage" convention in Philadelphia this July (which is why I believe Red Barry is going to make Mrs. Clinton a "deal she can't refuse" by putting her on the High Court). Either way, that SCOTUS nominee is sticking, and especially if it's the Ugly Dutchess, that will add huge momentum to Team Bern, and after the crazy old commie bastard was elected, what would be the point of continued Republican stalling? Especially if Weekend Bernie had coattails and brought in a restored Democrat Senate with him?
The only scenario in which Barack Obama's nominee does not wind up on the Supreme Court is if Ted Cruz wins the Republican nomination AND the presidency in November. Which is the least likely outcome in either of these two scenarios.
This time Eeyore gets the honors:
UPDATE IV: Obama might not wait a week to make that recess appointment.
No comments:
Post a Comment