I will not pretend to be saddened. He caused a great deal of unnecessary suffering. Cruz is calling for Congress to stall Obama so the next President chooses him, thus making it more likely Obama does choose the next Justice (Congress hates Ted Cruz.)
I have no idea who is on Obama’s short list. We’ll see plenty of stories about that soon enough. Sotomayor, his first nomination, has been a reliable member of the liberal bloc of the court, but is hardly radical.
(Source: Supreme court justice Antonin Scalia dies at 79).
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Update: I see that McConnell is also saying this. I guess it will the GOP line. They have really enjoyed having that reliable five judge conservative majority on the court.
Sanders statement:
Shorter Sanders: I’m sure there are people who mourn Scalia and I feel bad for those people.
Update 2: It’s worth noting that if a new Justice is not appointed until 2017, most issues which would have split 5-4 cannot be settled and the lower court ruling will stand.