SUPREME COURT JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA DEAD AT AGE 79
- BY JAEDON FOREMAN
- Feb 18, 2016
- 3 min read
On Friday night before he went to bed, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told others at the ranch that he was not feeling well. Justice Scalia’s friends found him dead in his room the next morning after he did not show up to breakfast. Justice Scalia’s death shocked the judiciary world and the political world. Republicans were quick to show determination to block any future Supreme Court appointments by President Barack Obama. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said “[t]he 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.” It appears as if Iowa Senator Charles Grassley (also the longest serving senate member) agrees with the Majority Leader. According to Radio Iowa, Senator Grassley (R-IA) said in an interview, “I would wait until the nominee is made before I would make any decisions.” Senator Grassley is currently the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; it looks like Iowa will have a major role in who the next Supreme Court justice will be.
On the other side, Senate Democrats want to fill Justice Scalia’s spot on the bench as soon as they can. “That is how our system works and has worked for more than 200 years. Until now, even through all the partisan battles of recent decades, the Senate’s constitutional duty to give a fair and timely hearing and a floor vote to the president’s Supreme Court nominees has remained inviolable. This Republican Senate would be the first in history to abdicate that vital duty,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in an article in the The Washington Post. Senate Democrats are furious that the Republicans might now even hold votes on any appointments to the Supreme Court. Senator Harry Reid talked about the way the Republican majority would be remembered in an article published on The Washington Post: “[i]f my Republican colleagues proceed down this reckless path, they should know that this act alone will define their time in the majority. Thinking otherwise is fantasy. If Republicans proceed, they will ensure that this Republican majority is remembered as the most nakedly partisan, obstructionist and irresponsible majority in history. All other impressions will be instantly and irretrievably swept away.” In a statement to the press on February 17th, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that President Obama “regrets” filibustering the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, and “[t]hey shouldn’t have looked for a way to just throw sand in the gears of the process." President Barack Obama even weighed in on the Senate Republicans’ actions on Tuesday, saying “I think what’s fair to say is that how judicial nominations have evolved over time is not historically the fault of any single party. This has become just one more extension of politics.”
In researching this issue, I found it interesting that Senate Democrats are furious at the Senate Republicans for doing the same thing that Senate Democrats did when President George W. Bush appointed Justice Samuel Alito. In current domestic politics, there is a lot of hypocrisy within the two main political parties. In this upcoming election, the American people will have to figure out which party and which candidate is the most trustworthy and honest. This is important because our next president will appoint 2-3 Supreme Court justices. This could change the face of American politics for years to come.
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