The Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia and I would probably not have been on the same side in many of the recent decisions that have been handed down. He was known for his conservativism, while I’m probably more accurately described as a liberal. But this isn’t what propels me to criticize the GOP for politicizing his death even before he’s been buried.
From what I’ve read in the past couple days, Scalia believed that we should interpret the Constitution as it was written back in the eighteenth century without trying to interpret what the founders of our country personally thought. He held to the idea that the words themselves were what counted, and that we should base judicial decisions on them.
So, if the Constitution says that the President nominates an individual for the Supreme Court when a vacancy occurs, why is there debate about waiting? It’s because the GOP believes it will win the White House in November and the next President would be more conservative than the current one in choosing a new justice. So the GOP thinks President Obama should stall for its benefit.
Really? There is no time limit in the Constitution for choosing a person to fill a Supreme Court vacancy; and I supposed if a President wanted to wait, that is an option. But to wait because Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP presidential wannabees feel “the people should decide” by their approval of the next President is far fetched.
Given that Justice Scalia was prone to a strict interpretation of the Constitution, I’m saddened that his many years on the bench are being short-shrifted for political gain.
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