Church of God News

Antonin Scalia

COGwriter

US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died last night:

February 14, 2016

WASHINGTON—The death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia brought calls from conservatives for President Barack Obama to not nominate a replacement during his last year in office, but doing that would leave an open seat for an unusually long time.Their hope is that a Republican will win the November election, allowing for a more conservative justice, like Scalia, to take the seat and preserve the narrow majority currently in the court.

But by waiting for the next president to take office in January 2017, Scalia’s seat would be vacant for at least 342 days.

High court history

In the past century, 10 other sitting justices have died, and it took an average of 95 days for their replacement to be confirmed.  The longest vacancy was 192 days between the death of Justice Benjamin Cardozo and the confirmation of Justice Felix Frankfurter in 1939.

With only eight justices on the bench, there is a greater possibility for 4-4 ties, and in those cases the ruling of the lower court stands without setting any precedent for judging future cases.  Most modern justices retire, giving a president ample time to nominate a replacement and have them confirmed by the Senate before the justice actually leaves the court.

Justice Scalia’s death quickly became an issue ahead of the November presidential vote, but there are examples of deceased justices being replaced in an election year.  In 1916, Justice Louis Brandeis was confirmed to take the place of the late Justice Joseph Rucker Lamar, and in 1940 Justice Frank Murphy filled the seat left by Justice Pierce Butler.

The stakes for naming a justice are high since the position is a lifetime appointment.  Republicans do not want Obama, a Democrat, to have his more liberal vision carried out in court cases for potentially decades by a new justice.

Obama’s considerations

Fourteen justices have been confirmed in U.S. presidential election years; the latest in 1988 when Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the court.  Eight of the election-year confirmations happened before 1900.

Obama could wait until December to make a nomination to the court and have some precedent in American history among leaders about to leave office. http://www.voanews.com/content/supreme-court-politics/3190300.html

WASHINGTON– It didn’t take long for the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the matter of his replacement on the bench to become a presidential debate topic.

Trump, Ted Cruz and other Republican presidential candidates said the nomination of a replacement is a matter for the next president, not Barack Obama.

Trump urged the Republican Senate, which must confirm any nominee, to “Delay, delay, delay.” Cruz offered that he would be the best person to nominate the next Supreme Court justice.

And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he thinks whoever the next president is should make the selection.

Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton expressed outrage that Republicans would table the replacement of Scalia until 2017.

Trump said if he were president he would want to nominate the new justice, but that it is up to the Republican-controlled Senate to stop that nominee from taking office. Republicans in Congress have been criticized by conservatives for not doing enough to block Obama’s initiatives and appointments. http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/scalia-death-hot-topic-in-gop-debate/#x5tC1IiZeoeOZOfs.99

So, politicians are arguing about how they want the replacement nominated.

Ignoring the debates of politicians, here are some comments about Justice Scalia:

2/13/14/2016

Antonin Scalia, a stalwart of constitutionalism on a Supreme Court too often marked by a majority who believed they were the law of the land, is gone. …

But, truly, today Americans have reason to pray for their country in his absence.

It’s a dark day for the Constitution and the rule of law.

Darker still because his successor could be named by a president who is salivating at the opportunity to appoint Scalia’s polar opposite to the court. http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/scalia-the-best-justice-of-our-generation/#AvXwvw4wbhIkcg5P.99

February 14, 2016

Antonin Scalia, the judicial firebrand who stood as the intellectual leader of the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative wing during his three-decade tenure as a justice, died Saturday at a ranch in western Texas. He was 79 years old.

“He was an extraordinary individual and jurist, admired and treasured by his colleagues. His passing is a great loss to the Court and the country he so loyally served,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement on behalf of the Court.

President Obama, who will have the opportunity to nominate Scalia’s successor, offered his sympathies to the justice’s family on Saturday night. “He will no doubt be remembered as one of the most consequential judges to serve on the Supreme Court,” he said.

Scalia articulated a straightforward role for jurists during his 29-year career on the Court. The Constitution should be read as the Founders wrote it, he often argued, and laws should be interpreted as they are written. He rejected the idea of an evolving “living Constitution,” claimed by some of his colleagues. http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/scalia-the-best-justice-of-our-generation/

I watched US President Barack Obama say a lot of nice things about Justice Scalia last night.  But Barack Obama did not agree with Justice Scalia on much and is widely believed to want to nominated someone quite different than Antonin Scalia.

Antonin Scalia represented one of the last of the US Supreme Court justices who actually believed that their job was to determine if court decisions were allowed under the US Constitution as written and official amended.

Even though, in theory, that is supposed to be the role of the Supreme Court justices, he along with Justice Clarence Thomas seemed to be the only ones on the current court who consistently did that job.

The US Supreme Court has both led changes and mirrored changes in US society.

One such change in US society is that less and less Americans believe that they actually need to believe what the Bible says. Most Americans believe there are some good points in the Bible, but do not believe that they have to believe it all as written.  Similarly, not only is that the apparent view of the US Supreme Court justices, that is the view that they tend to have towards the US Constitution.

The death of Antonin Scalia is part of the ending of an era.

And while I am NOT attempting to defend various decisions that Antonin Scalia made while on the US Supreme Court, I will comment that I believe that US Supreme Court justices are supposed to interpret law based on what the US Constitution (with its amendments) actually says.

The USA needs the kingdom of God.

Until then, what should be done for the USA?

Well, as one of the authors quoted earlier in this post somewhat indicated, we should pray for those in authority there (1 Timothy 2:1-3).

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 14th, 2016 at 8:15 am and is filed under Religious News.

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