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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died

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241–250 of 382 posts

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

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 mach…

I'd say a legal vote is one that is filled out in accordance with the instructions on a legal ballot. From what you're saying, I suspect that's what Scalia meant. If the machine misreads such properly filled-out ballots, that is certainly a problem and a recount would be justified.

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

#242
post #25

Scalia was foremost an advocate of judicial restraint, who believed that the further the Courts stretched interpreting law, the more vulnerable the Courts become to the animosities of the Executive and Legislative branches. The Judiciary, Scalia understood, was the least powerful and most vulnerable of the three branches of government, and its strength and influence rests in its artful and judicious use of its very,…

Personally, while I've always preferred liberal legislatures, I do actually prefer conservative Justices. I want the Supreme Court to set a high Constitutional bar for a law to pass muster. I can't say I've agreed with everything Scalia has ever said, but there's plenty I did agree with as well. I'm definitely a bit concerned at where we could end up if a far more liberal Justice is selected to replace him.

> Personally, while I've always preferred liberal legislatures, I do actually prefer conservative Justices. I want the Supreme Court to set a high Constitutional bar for a law to pass muster.

Let's clarify the meaning of "conservative". It could mean a judge who interprets the law strictly, or it could mean a judge who uses his position for partisan conservative purposes.

I think Scalia was the latter.

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

#243
post #207

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.

Where ballots aren't sufficiently clear to voters, they should be made so. Well there's the problem. What do you do when you have ballots that are objectively unclear, like the infamous butterfly ballot? You can't invalidate the election and have a new one--apart from the logistical problems, the turnout is going to differ significantly based on the media attention and the knowledge that the cancelled ballots were so…

"objectively unclear, like the infamous butterfly ballot"

I saw a reproduction of this ballot in the newspaper at the time and I remember wondering what the problem was supposed to be. It seemed perfectly clear, but journalists were jumping on the bandwagon of calling it confusing.

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

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be interesting of Obama did nominate a staunch centrist right out of the gate, as a gambit to get in a new justice confirmed before the likes of Donald Trump gets to make a nomination.

There's a precedent to replace 'like with like', so knowing that Scalia was very right-leaning, (if he gets the chance) Obama will very likely nominate a centrist, if not a right-leaning one. At least that seemed to previously be the case... In this new world of scorched earth politics, who knows.. Edit; My guess for nomination: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Srinivasan He's a Stanford guy, Indian, already sailed…

> There's a precedent to replace 'like with like'

I've never heard of that and have reason to think otherwise: Presidents see the Supreme Court appointments as a chance to leave their mark on the judiciary. Could you provide some evidence?

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

#245
post #44
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Look what happened when Bush was president, and the democrats stalled the election of supreme court justices. The republicans control 53 senate seats, and can refuse to confirm any justice till they know the outcome of the presidential election. If Trump wins, they'll stall until he takes office. If Sanders or Clinton wins, then they will grudgingly confirm who Obama chooses with some limits.

To be fair, one of those was Harriet Miers, who was eminently unqualified for the position, and 100% deserved to be blocked.

Another key point: the Democrats didn't say going into the nomination that no matter who Bush nominates they will reject. They were prepared to debate and decide on the nomination based on the merits of the nominee, not a blanket statement saying "we will not agree to anything, ever" - which is how the GOP has behaved during the Obama administration.

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

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "there's a good chance that'll be Donald Trump" it's actually pretty unlikely. Fivethirtyeight has a bunch of good articles about this, but the simplest piece of information pointing to it: Trump is intensely disliked by about 60% of the voting public. He's got a vocal and enthusiastic following, but once you go outside that bubble, he simply doesn't have room to grow. I voted for Bush twice, McCain, and Romney, an…

Which Republican candidate would you vote for rather than Hillary/Bernie?

Kasich and Rubio are in my "preferred" tier.

Bush and Cruz are in my "hold my nose and vote" tier.

Carson isn't presidential material IMO.

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

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's the Senate Majority Leader and the official spokesperson for Republicans in the Senate. The fact that he said it right away , after two GOP Senators who are also viable Presidential candidates said it as well, is a pretty strong indication of what's going to happen.

McConnell is a blow-hard, and is looking for a rally-point for the party. I'm sure he believes this is what Scalia would have wanted. But the idea that the "American People" wouldn't have a say with an Obama appointment is absurd. He was elected with a clear majority and Presidents are elected for four years, not four years minus whenever the next presidential race gets going. I know you've expressed elsewhere (edit:…

He will nominate quickly and, because the Senate is allowed to, they will slow roll and then block the nomination.

This isn't the first time this has happened. The Supreme Court will function just fine with 8 justices.

Blame John Adams!

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

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Did you know him personally, or know someone who knew him personally, or is there some other reason beyond "you profoundly disagreed with him" that would lead you to calling him a "terrible person"? Is there anyone you would call a terrible person? "No" is an OK answer here. Are any of them people you did not know? Again, "no" is an OK answer here. I'm not the poster you're responding to, and I'm sympathetic to the…

Yes, there are people I think are terrible. Yes, some of them are people I don't know. Would I say it on the day their death was announced? Tougher question. Candidly: if I felt like most of the people calling Scalia a "terrible person" were well acquainted with his work, beyond sound bites like "opposed marriage equality" or "thought we should shoot condemned convicts first and then hear their appeals", I wouldn't c…

"there are people I think are terrible"

Yes, your own history say you think "49% of [laywers] are terrible" and 'The most useful shorthand is "all recruiters are terrible"', believe 'The TSA is obviously terrible' and say the US supported a 'terrible Pakastani dictator'.

Here's a cut-and-dry piece by Richard A. Posner titled "The Incoherence of Antonin Scalia". Some of the choice quotes are: "OMITTING CONTRARY evidence turns out to be Scalia and Garner’s favorite rhetorical device", "Scalia and Garner are capable of reveling in absurdity", and "most professional historians reject the historical analysis in Scalia’s opinion".

For one of many given examples of incoherence, while Scalia says he is a textual originalist, "the eighteenth-century concept of freedom of speech was much narrower than the modern concept, and burning cloth is not a modern technological innovation", so why did he vote "to hold a federal statute forbidding the burning of the American flag unconstitutional"? As Posner writes, "an understanding of free speech that embraces flag burning is exceedingly unoriginalist. It is the product of freewheeling Supreme Court decisions within the last century."

Here's an op-ed by Erwin Chemerinsky titled "Justice Scalia: Why he's a bad influence" which starts "Justice Antonin Scalia is setting a terrible example for young lawyers. Ignore, for now, his jurisprudence, his famously strict originalism; it's his tone that's the problem." Other parts include "Such mockery does not amount to a legal argument; it's nothing more than an attack on the author's writing technique. A litigator who compared an opponent's brief to a fortune cookie likely would be, and should be, sanctioned by the court." and "Scalia's browbeating is childish, even vain; like a harshly negative book critic, he revels in his own turns of phrase. And his attitude, just like his legal theory, affects the profession as a whole."

I feel more well-informed by both pieces.

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

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Oh, I see. I thought I was missing something. That was lame of him.
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