Antonin Scalia

Justice Antonin Scalia was a conservative force in the Supreme Court.  He upheld conservative principles and was known for fiery dissents when his side on the court lost. This lion of the court even sponsored a school of thought amongst constitutional lawyers that seeks to uphold the original intent of the United States Constitution by ruling based on the powers and abilities given.  That school of thought having been lost back in the late 1800's into the modern era by the progressive movement.  Scalia said that there was no right to privacy in the United States Constitution, that Abortion is not protected and more and he did it all in his dissents.  However, his death in an election year brings about turmoil.  While his work on the Supreme Court is legendary, his passing means that the battle for the Presidency has even greater stakes than before.  While alive he was one of four conservatives on the court that balanced the four liberals, with Chief Justice Roberts being the moderate.  Now the court is off balance.  Republicans and Conservatives are calling for the appointment to be delayed by President Obama who said he will in time nominate a successor, but Obama's appointment is sure to be liberal and thus not respect conservative values derived from the Constitution.  Republicans have thus sworn in the Senate that they will block any appointment by the President (As they have the final say on the choice of Supreme Court Justice) so that the next President, whom they hope will be Republican, will be the one to choose Justice Scalia's replacement.  Not to mention that other Supreme Court Justices are likely to leave next year as well leaving more vacancies which the Republicans hope to fill with more Conservative members of the legal community.  So now the Republican Candidates will be questioned more on their constitutional standings to see if they have the "right stuff" and the political will to nominate a Supreme Court Justice who can properly replace Justice Scalia and thus once more balance the court.

Final thought:  We as citizens can look forward to a proverbial shooting gallery over the next few months till the election is over.  The Senate will block Obama's court nomination (mind you the supreme court was never given a size limit so appointing one is not crucial) which will be a big fight and thus party politics will surely rear its ugly head.  The court will still see cases as well, with the big ones being issues on abortion, and affirmative action.  Presidential candidates will have their work cut out for them as appointing a judge in our system of governance takes a lot of political capital and thus may make whatever promises they made during the election unattainable, assuming that the Senate succeeds in blocking Obama's Supreme Court appointment.