79 years old, I'm still stunned. I sort of assumed he would... live forever. RIP. That said, Ted Cruz is already tweeting that the next president should nominate his replacement. What's the precedent with this? There's almost a year before the next Prez takes office. It's strictly the Senate that needs to confirm the nomination, not the House, right? Can the Republicans (threaten to) filibuster? Wow. The more I think I about it, the more dilated my imagination becomes. Holy smokes.
The Democrats are going to benefit from the ensuing appointment fight no matter how it turns out. Either the GOP is going to look ridiculous delaying the process all year and force the GOP Presidential candidate to defend a very cynical position, or Obama is going to add another liberal to the court before he leaves office. I predict that they will actually get both, and that by August/September the GOP will decide that blocking the appointment is doing more harm than good.
It seems to be ambiguous as to who will get to name his successor. Is there any precedents for this? If it's not Obama, then this election just got a whole lot more interesting.
From a friend Longest SCOTUS confirmation process from nomination to resolution was Brandeis at 125 days Obama has 342 days left in office
It's complicated.Leaving a seat open indefinitely may not seem like a big deal. After all, justices recuse themselves from time to time, and the Constitution doesn’t say anything about needing nine. But partisans should take note: Thanks to a wealth of recent Democratic appointments on the lower courts, letting the Supreme Court go down to eight justices would favor liberals. Conservatives wouldn’t like the regime of liberal rulings that would govern in most of the nation without Supreme Court oversight. And the prospect of liberal dominance may actually stiffen the spine of the historically more accommodating Senate Democrats.
You're right. And as if this election cycle needed help being interesting.If it's not Obama, then this election just got a whole lot more interesting.