2016 Feb 16^th

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is dead; we can be absolutely certain of that. The consequences of his death are even now unfolding. Justice Scalia was found dead in his bed at an exclusive hunting resort in Texas. It is assumed that he died of heart attack although no physician was present nor did any physician examine the body.  At the request of his family no post mortem examination was done. The U.S. Marshall’s service provides security for Justices but Justice Scalia had dismissed them for his hunting lodge stay.

The sudden and unexpected death of this noted conservative jurist is fertile ground for conspiracy theorists. One Michael Savage, a noted radio talk show host and author of many conspiracy theories, tells us that Justice Scalia was surely murdered.  Mr. Savage is also of the opinion that the Sandy Hook children who were murdered were not murdered at all. This was just a “story” planted to demonize supporters of the Second Amendment. Savage claims that these children never existed. At one point, interviewing a parent, he asks what proof can be produced by the parent that the murdered child ever existed. Savage points out that Justice Scalia was found with a pillow on his face. He believes that this is sure evidence of murder. What murderer would be stupid enough to leave the pillow, murder weapon, resting on his victim’s face?

This “mystery” aside, we have the Senate’s leader, Senator McConnell, telling the President that any replacement for Scalia he puts forward will not get any consideration. No successor should be sent to the Senate until after the next election. Bush’s Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales heartily disagrees; he suggests following the Constitution which required the President to send the Senate a recommendation and requires the Senate to act on that recommendation in a timely manner. In a contest between political loyalty and the Constitution McConnell has clearly chosen sides and he might regret it. McConnell obviously hopes for a miracle that would deliver the Presidency to a Republican in the next election.

In the meanwhile suppose President Obama selects his Attorney General as a viable candidate for the Supreme Court. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has just gone through a confirmation hearing, though long delayed on purely political grounds, and she was confirmed 63 to 43. If the President chooses her the Republicans will delay the vote on a very well qualified black woman, the first ever to be nominated for the Supreme Court. Won’t that be a splendid start for their campaign to widen their constituency and reclaim the Presidency?