US Minorities Dodge a Redistricting Bullet with Scelia's Death

 There is a Supreme Court case that would have totally altered how we draw congressional district lines.  Had Scelia remained alive the vote was there and it would have been a five to four decision and it would have completely disenfranchised blacks and minorities.  It would also have compelled all of the states to draw their district lines.  It would be based not on population but registered voters.  Can you imagine that?  The constitution expressly says the populations of each state.  It says nothing about those over twenty one or legal voters or felons or people without transportation.  If you want to get religious about the whole thing you could say that God struck Justice Scelia dead to prevent such an awful ruling from happening.  Because it's my belief that this Supreme Court ruling would have itself been the most unconstitutional thing the court ever did.  How does Ted Cruz feel about that? 

Dwight Eisenhower recessed appointed Justice Brennon to the Supreme Court, so apparentlky Brennon was installed as a Justice prior to the senate confirmation.  So there’s no reason why President Obama couldn’t put Camilla Harris on the High Court during this time when the US Senate is in recess.  If the Republicans want to play rough, we can play rough.  But of course Justice Kennedy wasn’t officially approved by the then Democratic US Senate till 2008, which was an election year.  The Bork hearings were during the time when Frank was still living at the Bosc house and appared to have all that time off work, and was carping at the media and at me at the time.  Ron Rhodes described Bork as too arrogant.  But we don’t need to go that far back.  Our old friend Senator Mitch Mc Connell said in 2008 complaining of democrats not confirming Bush appointments as “The democrats don’t have the right to run out the clock in the last six months of the Bush administration like this’.  Well, we aren’t even in the last six months of the Obama administration.  There are eleven months left, so let’s just play Mc Connel’s words back to him.  The perfect thing to do would be to nominate a moderate- - one who has already been approved by the US Senate for a lower post.  Then watch the Republicans try and justify his not being appointed.  They’ll look silly and the whole thing will be a campaign issue, particularly in blue states, apparently, where Republican senators are struggling to hold on to their seats.  

The last time the High Court had a vacancy for as long as one year was during the Civil War.  The Constitution says nothing about the President being ineligible to nominate a Supreme Court justice during the last year of his administration.  “That’s crazy talk” to quote our friends from Stinky’s Rooter.  Of course four and four rulings of this court will result in a maintaining of the Status Quo.   So if there is a situation with Labor Unions where their rights may be restricted, this will be put on hold.  Also the President won’t be restricted in his executive orders, because there will be no High Court to point the long finger and say that the President’s constitutions are unconstitutional.  There is also that key case above we talked about involving redistricting.  The significance of that case can’t be over-stated.   Of course the President could kill two birds with one stone by appointing Hillary to the High Court.  Because she would be removed as a political target for the Republicans to attack this year relentlessly.  Now they are saying that Hillary Clinton tied in New Hampshire last week with Bernie Sanders.  You may think she lost by over twenty points but apparently there was a monster surge of voters voting for Bernie of proportions I can’t imagine, because a 21 point deficit is an awfully huge hedge to hurdle. 

Conservative talk radio host Michael Savage said Monday that “something stinks” surrounding Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, advocating for a Warren Commission-style investigation into his possible murder.  “The question is, is it a conspiracy theory to ask questions that are so obviously in need of answer, or is it just common sense,” Mr. Savage wrote in a blog post on his website. “And where is the common sense both in the press and the Republican Party. The answer is nowhere.”   Fortunately, neither Rush Limbaugh nor Shawn Hannity has referenced Michael Savage as any kind of credible source for anything. 

(CNN) Jeb Bush was the latest Republican presidential candidate to compare rival Donald Trump to liberal filmmaker Michael Moore on "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday, in response toTrump's criticism of George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq War.  "I don't get it," Bush said. "He's basically bearing the words of Michael Moore in a Republican Primary."   Bush is not the only politician to compare the business mogul to the left-leaning filmmaker. During an interview with ABC's Good Morning America on Monday, Bush ally and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham called Trump, "The Michael Moore of the Republican Party."  Republican candidate and Texas Sen.Ted Cruz also compared the two during a stop in South Carolina Monday.  "When Trump sided with MoveOn.org and Michael Moore and the fever swamp left-wing, that demonstrated where he was coming from," Cruz said.  Moore's political documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" famously criticized the Bush administration's involvement in the Iraq War.