Although Justice Scalia likely did the best he could to maintain a pulse long enough to outlast President Obama’s presidency, it was not to be. Maybe too much lasagna did him in or maybe he got depressed seeing Donald Trump running away with the GOP nomination and threw in the towel. In addition to providing us a fine lesson in how death certificates are processed in rural Texas, the conservative icon’s passing also provides us a fine renewed lesson in Washington dysfunction.
In the immediate wake of the death of Justice Scalia, the Republicans announced -site unseen- that as this is the final year of Mr. Obama’s presidency, they would block any attempt by the president to nominate a replacement to the Supreme Court bench, while the president insisted that he would go ahead and nominate one anyways. Today that nominee has been chosen and brought forward. They didn’t have to look too far, just a few blocks over, The chief judge of the DC circuit court, widely recognized as the most prestigious of the lower courts, Merrick Garland.
A few weeks ago I really thought the Republicans made a boneheaded decision to say they would refuse to consider President Obama’s SCOTUS nominee. Since one of the arguments being made by the assorted freaks of the fringe right is that they always say they’ll fight and then cave to Obama, turning around and doing so again for a quality SCOTUS nominee will confirm that argument for those people.
President Obama chose Garland as a nominee who will put them on the spot. It’s an interesting pick. By the accounts I’ve read, this is a moderate judge, sticks to the law, makes narrow interpretations, just the kind of person I would want. I hope he finds his way onto the court. I fail to see how the frothing at the mouth liberals that make up Obama’s base would like it. It’s widely expected that Hillary Clinton will clobber Trump in the election – I expect it, I made a $50 bet that she’ll beat Trump, even though I don’t want that outcome, because it looks like free money – and that the Dems will pick up enough seats to regain control of the Senate since so many more Repugs are running for re-election this year than Dems. So if I were a liberal Dem, I’d have wished for President Obama to take the GOP up on their offer, not nominate a moderate, and wait for Hillary and a Dem Senate put a young flaming liberal on there.
Eh, but I’m not. I’m center right and Judge Garland is as good a SCOTUS nominee as we’re going to see for the next five years. Obama went liberal twice and Hillary Clinton surely will as well. So I’m on board. Sometimes moderates can get what we want even when there are no moderates in Congress if the President and Congress are of different parties.
Earlier I said that I thought it was a boneheaded decision for Senate Majority Leader McConnell to declare the SCOTUS nominee dead on arrival. Well, maybe not. It looks like that tactic did pay off for him in the sense that in Garland he got the best nominee he could have hoped for out a liberal Dem president. Wrangled a moderate nominee out of Obama can be seen as being offered an olive branch. Now the Senate GOP has to figure out if they want to enrage the fringe people by backtracking and confirming him or if they want to roll the dice on what looks to be Hillary Clinton in 2017 while in the minority.
Where the Senate ought to go is if it looks like the GOP nominee (cough Trump) will lose, they should go ahead and confirm Garland. Of course, if it looks like that, President Obama is likely getting an earful from the liberals in his own party about how he screwed up by offering Garland. He may be tempted to pull the nomination and let Hillary do it. So whatever the Senate GOP does is a gamble.
I don’t know much about Garland, my knowledge is a millimeter deep and based on what I’ve read lately. If the guy gets a hearing, he has a mile long record of decisions to this point, I’ll see if my enthusiasm holds then, but as of right now, he made a good first impression and all signs point to this being the most qualified guy, and likely the best guy I could expect.
Look Death in the eye
And it’ll stare back at you
Cibolo Creek Ranch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where elk meet their end
As do SCOTUS justices
Cibolo Creek Ranch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t call me this late
Justice Scalia is dead?
Who the heck is that?
—
Your word is enough
No need to see the body
What’s his name again?
—
Waive the autopsy
Are those hoof marks on his head?
Screw it. Never mind.
—
God, I hate my job
How do you spell Scalia?
Should I know this guy?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
McConnell says “No!”
“We won’t even hold hearings”
“Piss off, Obama!”
The base rolls their eyes
They think the Senate will cave
They’ve been here before
So what happens next?
Obama does as he likes
Enter Judge Garland
Highly qualified
Respected by both parties
Dead on arrival
Maybe. Not so fast.
McConell will change his tune
After Trump gets crushed
Voltaire Politics 