Delaware Liberal

Read the account of the discovery of Scalia's dead body and try to pick out the phrase that has wingnuts in full freak out mode. Poindexter knocked on Scalia’s door…

Spandan Chakrabarti on why Obama wants a Supreme Court Fight and how Republicans blew it before it starts:

The bigger part of the advantage that the President and Democrats have is the actual fight over the nomination and confirmation process. Say the President nominates someone like Sri Srinivasan, who was confirmed to the DC Circuit by a 97-0 vote of the Senate in 2013. Among those 97 Yea votes were those of Sens. Cruz and Rubio, as well as GOP Leader McConnell, all calling for the current President to abdicate his Constitutional responsibility. What will people who have already voted for a judge to be on the federal bench say as a reason to oppose the same judge that won't sound political and hollow? The funny part is that the President doesn't even have to nominate a consensus candidate like Srinivasan to paint the Republicans into a corner. Republicans have already helpfully handed the President all he needs to paint their opposition to his eventual nominee as political and not substantive with their incredibly shortsighted to demand right away that President Obama stay away from nominating a new Justice. There is no way they can stop the president from exercising his Constitutional power, and because they have shown their hands early, the President and Harry Reid can easily frame any Republican attack against his inevitable nominee as spite rather than any serious concern on jurisprudence. Once painted into a political corner, Republicans may well have to back down from their initial stand just to get out of that corner. Harry Reid, I am certain, has other tricks up his sleeve to frustrate the Republican leadership by essentially ending the Senate's business until the President's nominee gets a vote. He could use executive sessions (the motion is non-debatable) to halt business, block unanimous consent requests for short breaks or recesses, and pull every parliamentary maneuver to make Republicans go on record. Even worse for the GOP, by constantly asking for procedural votes on the nomination, he can force Republicans to show up and be on the Senate floor. And no Democratic Senator will pay a political price for standing with Reid and President Obama on this. It will be like the GOP's government shutdown, part deux. Democrats will coalesce around the Constitutional principle of giving the president's nominee a vote, and Republicans will be seen as the party of destruction, endangering the very operation of government itself. And this time, there won't be a malfunctioning website to go after when it's done. The political cornering of Republicans will be especially important because this is an election year. The longer Republicans drag out this fight, the more it will galvanize an electorate favorable to the Democratic party.

New Castle County Council to the Supreme Court...? Pundits gotta pund.

THE BUZZ AT THE CAPITOL: “Some hopeful Democrats now see the nomination of a sitting senator as the best chance Obama has to seat another justice on the Supreme Court before leaving office,” Juliet Eilperin and Paul Kane report. “There are several Senate Democrats who fit that description, including Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Christopher A. Coons (Del.) and Richard J. Durbin (Ill.). But individuals who have spoken with the White House about the nomination process … said the president is interested in a candidate who is young enough to serve an extended period of time. Only two of those senators — Klobuchar, at 55, and Coons, at 52 — are younger than 60, the age Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was when she was nominated.”

If this isn't a Donald Trump recruiting rally, it might as well be. I especially like the part where the manager explains that this is a great move because "it is strictly a business decision" to protect the shareholders, as if that is something.

Vox has a list of 14 Supreme Court Justices confirmed during Presidential Election Years, with the most recent being 1988 and Anthony Kennedy. So when a Republican lies to you and says that we have never confirmed Supreme Court nominations in Presidential election years or near the end of a term, punch them directly in the face and call them a liar, for that is what they are.

Scalia's death is a world class gift to the Democrats. First, as I said yesterday, thanks to the Republican violent racist hatred of the President, and due to the shock of the unexpected death and the immediate realization that "oh shit, Obama gets to swing the court to a liberal majority for the first time in 50 years," they reacted rather unwisely last night in demanding complete obstruction. That played right into the Democrats' hands. And placed the GOP into a lose lose situation. Either they confirm Obama's nominee, and give the country a liberal majority court for a generation, or they lose 6-7 Blue State Republican Senate Seats and the Presidency due to their obstruction, thus guaranteeing a liberal majority court for a generation. They should have negotiated with Obama for a moderate pick. Now, Obama has no need to negotiate. Either confirm his liberal pick or Hillary will get to confirm her liberal pick. Republicans are very very stupid. They let their racist emotions get the better of them time and again. Second, with a Supreme Court seat at stake, this is an enthusiasm spiker and uniter for liberals and Democrats for the coming election. Bernie Sanders supporters have to agree that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama's Supreme Court picks were liberal and so will Hillary Clinton's. So that means, even the most disappointed Sanders supporter will know that they have to vote Democratic. And that is true for Clinton supporters if Bernie is the nominee, but I see that as more unlikely now than ever, because of Scalia's death.