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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

nytimes.com

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Re: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

#221

Post by jbapple »

sandworm101 wrote: post #175
ianamartin wrote: post #133

I usually disagreed with Scalia, but I have tons of respect for the man. He's always struck me as one of the best examples of the idea that two intelligent, educated people with reasonable minds may legitimately come to different conclusions about the same set of facts. I also found when reading transcripts of oral arguments that Scalia was really terrifically funny pretty often. Once, I was doing some computer repai…

>>> I usually disagreed with Scalia, but I have tons of respect for the man. He's always struck me as one of the best examples of the idea that two intelligent, educated people with reasonable minds may legitimately come to different conclusions about the same set of facts. I didn't have much respect for the man or the justice. As a justice, his interpretations were always based on a selectively warped view of histor…

> Specifically, he said of lawyers like me (the not-harvard crowd) "You cannot make a purse out of a sow's ear".

According to the NYT source, he actually said, "you can’t make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse", referring to the Harvard crowd as silk purses but not to non-Harvard lawyers as sow's ears. He seems to be referring to his disdain for the quality of the education at the most selective law schools while complementing their qualifications of their students.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

#222

Post by hyperdunc »

splintercell wrote: post #174
notthegov wrote: post #153

I can't escape the thought of him driving to work and getting all his news only from conservative talk radio. And then declaring he literally believes in Satan. I'm for religious freedom but a Supreme Court judge who literally believes in evil and refuses to read news contrary to his politics beliefs, seems dangerous.

Are you ok with the President believing in God, believing in praying daily, and receiving guidance at the time of crises? I am no fan of religious people, but a LOT of people are able to do their job properly despite of holding these crazy beliefs, and at the same time a lot of atheist do crazy stuff without having to resort to these beliefs.

Don't you think a person is likely to make better decisions when their beliefs more accurately reflect reality?

I would much prefer an atheist president but that's not likely to happen any time soon.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

#223

Post by waterlesscloud »

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #191
pvg wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The president can use a recess appointment. It would probably end up looking worse than blocking a nomination for 11 months so it seems unlikely, if technically possible.

What's Obama got to lose?

A recess appointment would make it an ironclad certainty that a Republican would be elected president. It would make enough voters, including moderates, angry enough that a Democrat would stand no chance.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

#224

Post by tomjakubowski »

bobwaycott wrote: post #194
tomjakubowski wrote: post #145

A dumb hypothetical because this will never happen, but: could Obama nominate himself to replace Scalia? And if the Senate somehow approved him, would he have to resign the presidency to take his spot on the bench? I don't see anything in the eligibility requirements to be President or a judge of the Supreme Court that would suggest an incompatibility. Is there relevant case law?

Well, there is the Ineligibility Clause in the Constitution (Article I, Section 6, Clause 2). But that only concerns the ineligibility of cross-serving in the legislative and executive/judicial branches, iirc. There's nothing I can think of in the Constitution that prevents serving under the executive and judicial branches simultaneously. In fact, John Marshall did exactly that (Chief Justice & Sec. of State, iirc).

Huh, yup: John Marshall served jointly as Secretary of State and Chief Justice, for a few months at the end of the Adams administration.

source: the sidebar here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marshall

Re: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

#225

Post by sandworm101 »

jbapple wrote: post #221
sandworm101 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>> I usually disagreed with Scalia, but I have tons of respect for the man. He's always struck me as one of the best examples of the idea that two intelligent, educated people with reasonable minds may legitimately come to different conclusions about the same set of facts. I didn't have much respect for the man or the justice. As a justice, his interpretations were always based on a selectively warped view of histor…

> Specifically, he said of lawyers like me (the not-harvard crowd) "You cannot make a purse out of a sow's ear". According to the NYT source, he actually said, "you can’t make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse", referring to the Harvard crowd as silk purses but not to non-Harvard lawyers as sow's ears. He seems to be referring to his disdain for the quality of the education at the most selective law schools while compl…

It's an expression he has used more than once. I first heard it when a law student asked him whether she should bother applying for a clerkship given she hadn't gone to harvard. In that instance the sows ear was the asking law student.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

#226

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #223
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's Obama got to lose?

A recess appointment would make it an ironclad certainty that a Republican would be elected president. It would make enough voters, including moderates, angry enough that a Democrat would stand no chance.

I don't know. I used to think I was a moderate, and I'd vote for almost any Democrat to keep Republicans from getting two SCOTUS appointments. It's an excellent point though, it would give Republicans a huge issue propaganda win.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

#227

Post by maxlybbert »

rbanffy wrote: post #184
wildmusings wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting. My own thoughts on this are that we should not be trying to determine intent on improperly filled ballots. In the same way that I'm responsible for getting myself to the voting booth, I am responsible for filling out my ballot properly. If I fail at that, my vote won't be registered. Where ballots aren't sufficiently clear to voters, they should be made so.

The parent mentioned that, although the ballots were not properly filled, intent was clear.

Well, at oral argument, Scalia made it clear that only legal votes should be counted. To be honest, since the question was "what is a legal vote?" that seemed like circular reasoning. The underlying idea, though, is that if I walk into a polling place, and proudly yell my vote, and walk out, my vote isn't counted regardless of how clear the intent was.

Scalia's suggestion was that if a vote couldn't be read by a machine, it wasn't a legitimate vote regardless of any extenuating details. That may have been influenced by the fact that Florida law only mentioned recounts that were performed by running the ballots through the machines a second time.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

#228

Post by josephscott »

bradleyjg wrote: post #83
Steko wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The longest confirmation in history was apparently Brandeis at 125 days. Assuming Obama takes about a month to get a nomination together that leaves just over 300+ days left in this administration. That said, would not surprise me to see the Senate serially find reasons to reject say 3-4 candidates or screw precedent and just take forever to run out the clock on purpose. They will likely also have pro forma sessions…

Abe Fortas resigned May 15, 1969 and Harry Blackmun wasn't confirmed until May 12, 1970 (362 days) after the failed nominations of Haynsworth and Carswell. Likewise, Lewis Powell died June 26, 1987 but Anthony Kennedy wasn't confirmed until February 3, 1988 (222 days) after the failed nominations of Robert Bork and Douglas Ginsburg. There may be other similar situations but those are the ones that came to mind.

Perhaps it would have better been described as 'The longest single confirmation process in history'. In terms of the whole replacement process, where it included candidates that were rejected, there have been times over 125 days ( as you mentioned ).

Raw data is available at http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/nominations/Nomin...

Re: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

#229

Post by sandworm101 »

17wallpapers wrote: post #210
sandworm101 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>> I usually disagreed with Scalia, but I have tons of respect for the man. He's always struck me as one of the best examples of the idea that two intelligent, educated people with reasonable minds may legitimately come to different conclusions about the same set of facts. I didn't have much respect for the man or the justice. As a justice, his interpretations were always based on a selectively warped view of histor…

Did you deliberately reverse the quote?

No. I heard it in person during my first year of law school, which would have been long before 2009. The guy talked constantly, which isn't surprising given the job. Not every word appeared in NYT articles shortly thereafter.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

#230

Post by jbapple »

sandworm101 wrote: post #225
jbapple wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Specifically, he said of lawyers like me (the not-harvard crowd) "You cannot make a purse out of a sow's ear". According to the NYT source, he actually said, "you can’t make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse", referring to the Harvard crowd as silk purses but not to non-Harvard lawyers as sow's ears. He seems to be referring to his disdain for the quality of the education at the most selective law schools while compl…

It's an expression he has used more than once. I first heard it when a law student asked him whether she should bother applying for a clerkship given she hadn't gone to harvard. In that instance the sows ear was the asking law student.

> I first heard it when a law student asked him whether she should bother applying for a clerkship given she hadn't gone to harvard. In that instance the sows ear was the asking law student.

That's a very mean thing to have said about her and her whole class. I'm sorry you experienced that.

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