Scalia found dead at West Texas Ranch

[OttoVonBismarck]

Died in his sleep.

[The Brain]

RIP

[The Brain]

Wiki:

Appointed to the Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, Scalia has been described as the intellectual anchor for the originalist and textualist position in the Court's conservative wing.[3] And then he died.

[Berkut]

Wow, that is going to be huge.

Obama gets to replace a Conservative stalwart on the bench...

[FunkMonk]

Wow, that is going to be huge.

Obama gets to replace a Conservative stalwart on the bench...

I'm not familiar with the appointing process so I'm probably wrong, but can't the Reps just block any Obama nominee until after the election?

[LaCroix]

holy fuck

[garbon]

Damn

[OttoVonBismarck]

Does he? It would be unprecedented (I think), but I can't imagine this Senate confirming anyone. Or they'd require Obama to nominate someone who essentially would be a Republican nominee. In that scenario Obama probably just refuses to do that and it stays at eight until the election, with the hope (by Obama) being a Democratic Senate majority lets the next President nominate someone.

It may even be possible Obama could, because IIRC the new Congress from the 2016 elections starts on like 1/3, while Obama's Presidency runs until the 20th.

[Grinning_Colossus]

RIP. That bastard could write.

[alfred russel]

Does he? It would be unprecedented (I think), but I can't imagine this Senate confirming anyone. Or they'd require Obama to nominate someone who essentially would be a Republican nominee. In that scenario Obama probably just refuses to do that and it stays at eight until the election, with the hope (by Obama) being a Democratic Senate majority lets the next President nominate someone.

It may even be possible Obama could, because IIRC the new Congress from the 2016 elections starts on like 1/3, while Obama's Presidency runs until the 20th.

They need to confirm someone. It will become a major political issue if they don't, and it won't cut in the Republicans favor. Republicans in Congress may hate to see a conservative vote go liberal, but what they care about more are their own seats.

[Kleves]

I often disagreed with him, but he was a good writer and his opinions were usually enjoyable to read. RIP.

[Razgovory]

I'll be damned.    

[Zanza]

What would they do if one of the judges gets Alzheimer or so but refuses to leave the bench?

The US Supreme Court seems to be pretty unique as far as democratic institutions go in having its members serve for life.

[Martinus]

[OttoVonBismarck]

What would they do if one of the judges gets Alzheimer or so but refuses to leave the bench?

The US Supreme Court seems to be pretty unique as far as democratic institutions go in having its members serve for life.

Short answer is they can be impeached by the House and then removed from office by the Senate. In practice this hasn't been done for "being incapable." But that's what might happen if a justice had a confirmed mental defect that affected their ability to rule on cases rationally and refused to step down, it could (maybe) unite a bipartisan group in the Senate to remove the justice. It only requires a majority vote of the House to impeach, but to convict/remove requires 2/3rds of the Senators so it needs broad bipartisan support.

There's only I believe been two long term "incapacities" in the Supreme Court's history. Justice Joseph McKenna had a stroke in 1915, and stayed on the bench until 1925, it was a serious, debilitating stroke that significantly impacted his ability to fulfill his duties. But he had enough cognition that he could still be somewhat involved and he didn't want to step down. He was never forced out by another branch, but Chief Justice Taft (the same Taft that had been President) was able to privately pressure him to retire in 1925.

Justice William Douglas (the longest serving supreme court justice at 36 years, he was appointed at 40) had a stroke in his 70s that limited his physical mobility but spared at least a decent bit of his mental faculties. He insisted on continuing his duties, but the rest of the justices told him that they considered him unfit and they all agreed that they would defer ruling on any case where he was the "swing vote." This lead him to retire (during the Ford Administration.) He declined even more afterward, and actually tried to continue to participate in the business of the Supreme Court even though he had been retired and his replacement (John Paul Stevens) had already been appointed to replace him.

Douglas asserted he had "Senior Judge" privileges and was allowed to continue weighing in on opinions and deliberations, but not vote. But that isn't actually true, judges in the Federal system are able to claim a "Senior Judge" status, which lets them basically work as "at large" judges throughout the Federal court system, at a reduced caseload (they have to do in a year the typical three month case load of a full time judge.) But this applies to district/appellate courts, there is no senior judge status in the business of the Supreme Court. One of the recent SCOTUS retirees, IIRC Sandra Day O'Connor, has exercised this role, and fills in at appellate court levels regularly.