Justice Antonin Scalia has just died
Wow!
What an amazing turn of events.
Now let me explain why this is monumentally important.
Right now the supreme court is 5-4 on incredibly important decisions.
There's 5 conservative justices, 4 liberal justices
A conservative justice has just passed away, that's Antonin Scalia.
That means if he is replaced by a conservative
the Supreme Court remains conservative.
If he's replaced by a liberal
that means the Supreme Court goes 5-4
in terms of progressives now outweighing conservatives.
Now President Obama gets to pick the next Supreme Court nominee.
The problem is the Senate has to confirm it. The reason that's a problem
is because now the Republicans control the Senate.
It would be political suicide for any of the Republicans to vote for any Obama nominee
They will almost certainly block it for the next 10 months
Would that be unprecedented? Yes.
It would break the record for how long a Supreme Court nominee has been blocked
by about threefold.
If you think the Republicans won't do that, you're crazy.
You don't know anything about politics.
The Republicans will block it, block it, block it, no matter how unprecedented it is.
Anyone who votes for an Obama nominee before the election on the Republican side
will likely have a challenger and lose their next election
in a primary on the Republican side.
That's just the reality of it.
The only way that's subverted is if Obama in a monumental mistake,
in order to appease the Republicans, picks someone who is right wing.
Which would-- which is also unthinkable. I hope he doesn't even consider that notion.
Which then means, the next President of the United States of America
will also determine whether the Supreme court
is conservative or liberal
Wow!
In my lifetime, there's nonstop talk about how every Presidential election is the most momentous one
but this one, given the facts of today
will almost certainly be the most momentous election of our lifetime
because with one vote, you guys now get to decide 2 branches of government.
You'll get to pick the President. The President will also get to pick the next Supreme Court Justice.
Presidents often pick Supreme Court Justices; that's part of why it's so important to vote for a President,
but in this case, it's a guarantee!
Likely, as soon as they come in, they'll get to pick a Supreme Court Justice
and they'll get to determine if the court becomes liberal or conservative.
What an important decision we're going to be faced with as soon as this unfolds!
Wow, I can't tell you how important this is!
So, now finally, I know that on the Republican side, what they'll do is,
"I am the most ideologically pure, so you should pick me
to be your Presidential choice," on the Republican side
"so that I will pick the most conservative Supreme Court Justice."
On the Democratic side, it'll probably play out in a different way:
I am sure that Hillary Clinton will say, "No, you can't risk Bernie Sanders.
You've got to pick me because we can't have a Republican
picking the next Supreme Court nominee."
Now, there's a problem with that argument. Bernie Sanders,
according to all the polling - not me - the polling says
he is more electable. Every single poll indicates that on one-on-one matchups,
against all of the different Republican opponents,
he scores much better than Hillary Clinton does.
So Bernie Sanders will make the argument, "No, I'm more electable
and I do much better with Independents; that's why I do better than Hillary Clinton in all these general election matchups.
You've got to pick me so that I will not only win, get you a liberal Supreme Court Justice,
but I'll be the one picking it. You can bet your bottom dollar that it will actually be a real progressive
and not someone who's down the middle."
This could not be more important. So here we go, title stakes.
Both the Presidency and the Supreme Court is now on the line.
Wow!