As if the stakes in this election weren't high enough, the death of Antonin Scalia threw a monkey wrench into its already frayed gears. The suddenness of Mitch McConnell's announcement that President Obama shouldn't even consider nominating a replacement for Scalia, that we should wait almost a year for a new justice to be appointed by the next president, was a gauntlet that indicated how extremely the GOP has swung to the right.
The Republicans' stance reveals their disdain for the people's right to have a well-functioning judiciary, as well as disdain for the very document they so zealously proclaim to embrace: the Constitution. It makes me wonder how Scalia, a constitutional “originalist,” would view their intransigence.
The composition of the Supreme Court has never been more critical than it is today. The issues before it — labor rights, abortion rights and immigration — are vital. They should be decided by a full court as expeditiously as possible.
Considering that the GOP rules the Senate, where they could block action on a nomination to the court, it appears that only a mass protest by the people will compel them to act on President Obama's impending nomination.
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