Indeed. Talk of Sanders’ electability is inappropriate for this thread. Take it elsewhere.
You think we’ll actually get a “true Liberal or Progressive on the Court” with any Republican in the Senate that has breath in his or her lungs? Chances are even St. Bernie would have to nominate a moderate, unless the Senate somehow *really *swings and becomes a filibuster-free place for the Dems.
DC won’t become magical if Bernie gets elected.
Er, welcome back, Shayna.
Is it? If people are saying we need to nominate Clinton now because she’s more electable and the stakes are higher, then I would think discussing Sanders’ electability is very appropriate.
There are already plenty of threads about Sanders electability in the general.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=783170&page=7
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=782553&page=3
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=783140&page=2
Sure, but he’d have to step down as President. Which is actually fine if that’s what he really wants to do with his life. Who wouldn’t support that, actually? Biden is President for the next 11 months, Obama’s on the court for 20-30 years.
The topic may be well covered, but I don’t see how that makes it a hijack. It’s specifically relevant to the topic of this thread.
I see what you did there.
Perhaps McConnell would agree to a vote on a nominee only if Obama nominates himself, and then resigns before the confirmation hearings?
Sure… the Republican majority Senate will give him an up or down vote in that circumstance.
Actually, Senate Republicans have a great relationship with Biden. I think they’d be thrilled to deal with him over the next 11 months.
A week is a long time in politics. Scalia’s death yesterday will utterly dominate the news for the next few days. Bernie’s New Hampshire win seems as old as World War I now. I’m sure the Clinton campaign is glad to have another story making headlines.
How do I get a ‘gnore list’? It sounds pretty gnarly. 
(The fact that there’s no such thing as a ‘gnore’ suggests that it might be related to the gruffalo - “Silly old fox, doesn’t he know? there’s no such thing as a gruffalo!” - but to me it sounds more like the name for a subspecies of troll. And soon as we figure out what subspecies that is, the utility of having a ‘gnore list’ will be self-explanatory. :p)
Thank you.
Here’s a question: if Obama submitted his nomination for the SCOTUS vacancy to the Senate next week, and we were in an alternate universe where the Senate voted to confirm his nomination by sometime in March or April, would the new Justice join in the Court’s deliberations of cases already argued but not yet decided in this term, or would s/he only join in the deliberations of cases still to be heard this term, or would s/he simply wait until the beginning of the Supreme Court’s next term in October before joining the Court for real?
Actually, there’s fairly recent precedent for this, isn’t there? Justice Kennedy was confirmed by the Senate on February 3, 1988, and was sworn in as Justice on February 18, 1988. How did that work out, legal eagles? Did he participate in deliberations of cases already argued, or was his work during that term of the Court limited to cases argued after he joined the Court?
Generally in the past new justices have recused themselves in such cases, but no one can make them do it if they don’t want to.
I don’t know about that, I would rather use that example to shove down the throat of any Republican who says nominations aren’t made in an election year.
He wasn’t technically nominated in an election year AFAIK.
Not meant as a completely serious question (and apologies if it was already asked) but: what if Obama nominates Clinton or Sanders? Obama just says, “Ah, fuck it, I’m outta this crummy job in a year, let’s just screw with everybody.” Neither if them has a chance of being confirmed, but it’s looking like no one he nominates will be confirmed, so he should just go out there and have fun.
They’d have to actually want it, which is pretty unlikely, I think.
Not exactly. Under the rules, Thomas now becomes Scalia’s crypt-guardian. He will be tethered to the vault entrance by a 20-foot chain, forbidden to bathe or cut his hair or nails, and fed a not-quite-adequate amount of warm raw meat (to keep him hungry and fierce).