# This election has just changed, Justice Scalia has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 13, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052 "2016-02-13T22:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/101 "2016-02-14T00:57:45Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Assuming he only looks within the federal judiciary, how many are there? There is precedent for nominating a law professor. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/102 "2016-02-14T00:58:00Z")
WHOO HOOOOO!! RING THE BELLS! Dopers, it’s time to get out the New Year’s party horns and tambourines! Finally some good news. I’m guessing Teddy Cruz wants to nominate Mike Huckabee, or a Duggar family member (obviously not a woman) and Trumpy wants to nominate himself. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/103 "2016-02-14T00:58:03Z")
Hey, Free Republic. Scalia was right. There is a god. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/104 "2016-02-14T00:59:01Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Question: can Obama wait until there is a recess in the Senate, then make a recess appointment to the Supreme Court that the Senate cannot block until the new Senate convenes in January? In theory, yes. In actuality, there will not be a recess between now and January unless a meteor hits Washington. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_from\_CB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@Alex\_from\_CB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_from_CB)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/105 "2016-02-14T01:05:30Z")
Don’t know Supreme Court rules, …Do they bury Clarence Thomas along with Tony? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/106 "2016-02-14T01:08:13Z")
As others have said. This is huge. The R senate will obstruct to the limit of their ability. Which will probably be past January. Obama will nominate somebody relatively centrist in actuality who the Rs will spin as extreme Marxist. The R presidential primary candidates will fall over themselves suggesting ever more insane Supreme Court nominees. The base will eat it up. This will have a more positive impact on R turnout in November than it will D turnout. Scalia dying before the election is a bad turn of events for the Ds. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/107 "2016-02-14T01:12:35Z")
**LSL** , do people tend to call you a pessimist, while you think of yourself as just a realist? Because that strikes me as pretzel logic, to see this as bad news for Democrats. A short list of possible nominees: > **[The Supreme Court Farm Team](https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-supreme-court-farm-team?mbid=social_facebook)** > > Who will be the next Justice? According to Obama Administration insiders (and knowledgeable outsiders), here is a preliminary list of possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/108 "2016-02-14T01:18:03Z")
Yes, making it that much _more_ critical that we elect Bernie Sanders. Literally, the soul of the Democratic Party is at stake here: social democracy versus neoliberalism. [Why Bernie vs Hillary Matters More Than People Think](http://benjaminstudebaker.com/2016/02/05/why-bernie-vs-hillary-matters-more-than-people-think/) [Why Bernie Sanders is More Electable Than People Think](http://benjaminstudebaker.com/2016/02/10/why-bernie-sanders-is-more-electable-than-people-think/) Unless you want a continued right-leaning court, then by all means, put the neoliberal Clinton in there (as if she hasn’t already damaged the party enough [by moving it so far to the right as it is](http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/33869-hillary-clinton-s-ghosts-a-legacy-of-pushing-the-democratic-party-to-the-right)). ---
**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 14, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/109 "2016-02-14T01:20:20Z")
I think this is probably bad for Sanders. True or false, more Democrats think Hillary is electable. Anything that emphasizes the consequences of the GOP winning is bad for Sanders. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/110 "2016-02-14T01:20:53Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > There is zero political upside for Senate Republicans to confirm an Obama nominee, and tremendous negative consequences. Doing so would validate everything Trump and Cruz are saying about the GOP establishment. > > Both sides have always seen 2016 as an election dependent on turnout, and an open Supreme Court seat is as big a rallying cry as the Republicans could hope for (and the Democrats, for that matter). But, as we all know, the Pubs do not **want** high turnout across the board, because they tend to lose when that happens, and there is no obvious way to spin this issue so that it leads to high turnout among Republicans only. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/111 "2016-02-14T01:26:12Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > Unless you want a continued right-leaning court, then by all means, put the neoliberal Clinton in there (as if she hasn’t already damaged the party enough). Do you believe that Clinton would nominate someone like Scalia? 'Cause I don’t. ---
**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 14, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/112 "2016-02-14T01:35:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Jophiel** : > > Per Jake Tapper and Larry Sabato on Twitter, “sources state” that Obama will nominate a replacement, setting up a fight with the Senate. Of course Obama will nominate a replacement. That’s his job, as laid out in the Constitution of the United States of America. Obama takes his job seriously, unlike much of Washington. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/113 "2016-02-14T01:35:35Z")
I just hope Obama gets a backbone and finds someone with one. I’d like to see a black person on the court (Who talks). Maybe it would shame someone we know into participating and being publicly accessible about his opinions. Do you really think it’s time for Obama to be moderate? Now after 7 years of lucy pulling the football out? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/114 "2016-02-14T01:39:01Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > I think I was beamed into an alternate universe where Republicans were punished for obstructionism, instead of being rewarded handsomely. Well…welcome back, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/115 "2016-02-14T01:42:25Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Hoo boy. > > My fave: I liked: > [@](#): > > The Pelican Brief. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/116 "2016-02-14T01:42:39Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I just hope Obama gets a backbone and finds someone with one. I’d like to see a black person on the court (Who talks). Are any of the original Black Panthers still alive? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/117 "2016-02-14T01:43:48Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > This weekend is the 10th anniversary of when Dick Cheney shot Harry Whittington in Texas while quail hunting. > > Scalia died this weekend while in Texas for quail hunting. > > (Anyone seen Cheney? When last spotted he was saying something about “time to feed again”. ) For anyone keeping track of coincidences, the last time a Supreme Court justice died in office was almost exactly 100 years ago, Joseph Lamar in January, 1916. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/118 "2016-02-14T01:45:20Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Are any of the original Black Panthers still alive? 😃 > **[Angela Davis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Davis)** > > Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). She was active in movements such as the Occupy movement and the Boycott, She’s a little old now, but I’d like to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/119 "2016-02-14T01:46:03Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > For anyone keeping track of coincidences, the last time a Supreme Court justice died in office was almost exactly 100 years ago, Joseph Lamar in January, 1916. Huh? Rehnquist died in office just in 2005. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052/120 "2016-02-14T01:47:08Z")
Good statement from President Obama just now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-election-has-just-changed-justice-scalia-has-died/746052.md?page=7)