A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

13 February 2016

Scalia’s death

Arch conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, 79, died last night. It was sudden, but he had become increasingly cranky the last couple of years, so to me it wasn’t much of a surprise. No cause of death has been announced yet (16:22:27 MST,) but I suspect it was a stroke, heart attack, ruptured aortic aneurysm, or something similar.

His death opens a seat on the Supreme Court. President Obama will nominate a new justice, but even if he nominates another Scalia, his nominee won’t be approved by the Republican controlled U.S. Senate — unless Mitch McConnell and his colleagues become convinced that a Democrats will win the White House and senate in November. In that case, they might approve Obama’s nominee as the lesser of evils. At least in theory they might do that. In practice, don’t count on it.

And don’t count on Obama’s nominating a progressive. He loves to compromise — he regards compromise as an intrinsic rather than an instrumental good — and might be tempted to nominate a conservative if he deludes himself that the Republicans can be bought off by adopting their position.

Scalia’s passing hurts Bernie Sanders, 74, more than it hurts Hillary Clinton, 68, for it reminds voters that one’s lifespan is not infinite. And in that regard, it helps all Republicans, except Donald Trump, 69, more than it helps Democrats.

I seldom agreed with Scalia, but I usually appreciated his writing, which in his last years degenerated from colorful to strident.