# I'm a liberal, and I am sad that Antonin Scalia died **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 13, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059 "2016-02-13T23:01:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aperez77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Aperez77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aperez77)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/1 "2016-02-13T23:01:55Z")
I am a liberal who does wish to celebrate the death of someone just because he was a conservative. Martin Luther King would not be celebrating. Many liberals in Twitter, Daily Kos, etc. are celebrating. Rest in peace, Scalia. My sympathies to his 9 children, grandchildren, etc. If I lost a relative I would hate to read celebratory comments from conservatives. Rest in peace Antonin Scalia. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/2 "2016-02-13T23:05:05Z")
I do not celebrate the fact that a man has died. I celebrate the fact that the toxic, irrational, inhuman, anti-American mindset with which he has poisoned the Supreme Court, and through it the everyday lives of each and every one of us, has now been removed. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/3 "2016-02-13T23:08:41Z")
What **Smapti** said. And, I would be pretending at an Oscar-winning level if I intimated that I was sad about his death. I’m not throwing a party (that’s for the confirmation of his successor), but I am not sad either. ---
**Author:** ![Aperez77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Aperez77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aperez77)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/4 "2016-02-13T23:10:50Z")
Look > [@Smapti](#): > > I do not celebrate the fact that a man has died. > > I celebrate the fact that the toxic, irrational, inhuman, anti-American mindset with which he has poisoned the Supreme Court, and through it the everyday lives of each and every one of us, has now been removed. Would you say that to his family in their faces today? You would not. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/5 "2016-02-13T23:13:15Z")
> [@Aperez77](#): > > Would you say that to his family in their faces today? You would not. We’re not speaking to his family. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/6 "2016-02-13T23:16:56Z")
He’s hurt a lot of people with his rulings. I don’t believe he gives a damn about “constructionism” or whatever the hell he calls it. Good riddance. If anyone has a problem with that, 150000 people die every day, most of them never having harmed as many people for as long as Scalia has. I’ll pretend to be sad when you pretend to care about those other 149999 people. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/7 "2016-02-13T23:22:50Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > I’ll pretend to be sad when you pretend to care about those other 149999 people. One difference, at least for me, is that I’ve spent a lot of time in Scalia’s head. I’ve probably read thousands of pages of his thinking, at this point. So it is like losing someone you know. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/8 "2016-02-13T23:30:19Z")
I am not celebrating. But I am relieved. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/9 "2016-02-13T23:33:03Z")
It is unseemly to rejoice in the death of a justice of such stature. But it would be overstating it to say I am sad to hear this. I am not. I wish peace and comfort to his family, and to our country. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/10 "2016-02-13T23:35:57Z")
I am not sad about his passing, for the same reason that I am not sad about most of the people on this planet who die (several of them per second, even). I never met him, and never knew him, and so have no particular connection to him. Likewise, I am not glad of his death, either. The only connection I have ever had to him is purely political, and politically, my response to his death is primarily in noting that it’s likely to make an already interesting election cycle even more interesting. Whether that “interesting” turns out to be good or bad remains to be seen. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/11 "2016-02-13T23:51:18Z")
I won’t celebrate the man’s death. However, I will celebrate the confirmation of a more moderate or liberal Justice, if and when it comes to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/12 "2016-02-13T23:57:10Z")
> [@Aperez77](#): > > Look > Would you say that to his family in their faces today? You would not. Yes, in fact, I damn well would. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/13 "2016-02-14T00:07:48Z")
I have no strong opinions about the fact that Scalia died. I didn’t know him, knew of him only though the lens of politics and have no real personal feelings about him. I am happy that a conservative spot on the SCotUS has opened. That’s a separate issue than Scalia’s death. If I had my way, Alito, Thomas and Roberts would all lose bar bets and voluntarily retire. I don’t wish harm on any of them and wouldn’t rejoice if it happened. I wouldn’t say this to Scalia’s family but that’s just basic tact and civility. If someone I knew had their orphanage-shooter son die, I wouldn’t go say “Thank God your piece of shit son died!” regardless of my personal opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/14 "2016-02-14T00:13:26Z")
Reported - forum change ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/15 "2016-02-14T01:33:38Z")
It is perfectly acceptable to speak honestly about the dead. Human decency requires that you be sensitive to grieving survivors, but it is ridiculous to pretend that everybody on the planet is a grieving survivor. I’m sure those who loved him were aware of the fact that large, vocal segments of the world did not love him. It’s not as if new thoughts are being expressed. I regret that death comes to us all. I find it hard to mourn the passing of a 79-year-old man who died in his sleep while on vacation with friends, particularly as I am still awaiting the apology for all the nasty things he said about ME, as a gay person. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/16 "2016-02-14T02:16:00Z")
I thought there were better choices than him from NJ when he was appointed. I think better decisions will be made by his successor. Lastly, I find it a shame that it took the death of a man to move America forward and into a better future. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/17 "2016-02-14T02:42:11Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Yes, in fact, I damn well would. Wow. I disagree with Scalia on about everything, but I think a lot less of you than of him. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/18 "2016-02-14T04:42:31Z")
I survived through worse people in his position. But I do think I would have preferred if he had hung in until after the elections. This opening could be a sword that cuts us liberals as much as, or more than, the conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/19 "2016-02-14T05:01:30Z")
I didn’t like his much, but he delivered some great zingers in the Brown v EMA opinion. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059/20 "2016-02-14T05:05:23Z")
We shouldn’t be glad because a man died. We should be glad for the job vacancy. How should we feel about Scalia’s death? Ask yourself how he’d feel if you had died. Probably nothing at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-and-i-am-sad-that-antonin-scalia-died/746059.md?page=2)