The son of Sicilian immigrants, the father of nine children, and the grandfather to 28 grandchildren, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, died February 13th at an exclusive ranch resort in West Texas frequented by many celebrities. The cause of death, according to the Drudge Report, are not exactly known. It is reported that Scalia passed away in his sleep after he retired earlier than his party letting them know he didn’t feel well. When he didn’t come down for breakfast, staff went upstairs to check on him and found his body. U.S. Marshalls have been tapped to return his body to McLean, Virginia where he was a longtime resident (Drudge Report).
Labeled a ‘staunch’ conservative by many, and possibly even by himself, Scalia was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. Governing all of his opinions, was his belief that the Constitution should be a dead document. Meaning, he believed that the constitution should be followed strictly as it was written (Fox News).
Scalia’s death further inflamed the political world and an already charged election season as U.S. President Barack Obama stated shortly after hearing news of Scalia’s death that he ‘planned to fulfill his constitutional duties...’ and appoint a replacement for Scalia’s seat. In his own words, Obama ‘expects’ the Senate to ‘fulfill’ its constitutional duties of having a debate over his nominee, and then putting it to a vote.
Republicans, who control 54 seats in the Senate and thus a majority, have been clear in their response that the people should have an opportunity to decide the next nominee by who they vote for president in the next election.
The somberness of that notion begs the question—why is the Supreme Court so important? In short, the Supreme Court is one-third of the U.S. government. The other two branches are the presidency, and the legislature, composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate, who most people think of as the ‘Congress.’ The Congress is responsible for making laws. The Presidency is responsible for enforcing the laws that the congress passes, and is responsible to veto laws that he feels are not in the interest of the American people. And finally, the Supreme Court which is composed of nine justices, is meant as a ‘check and balance’ to have the power to review all laws. Their job is not to decide whether a law is ‘good or bad’ for America. Rather, the Supreme Court is supposed to decide whether laws passed follow the U.S. Constitution, the document that sets up the United States government and outlines how it is supposed to operate (Keller, pages 185-186, and pages 202-204).
Scalia’s death means that the court is now tied 4-4, and that results in the lower courts decisions standing firm. A divided supreme court means that issues like the President’s immigration policies, union issues, and more will stand undecided until a new justice can be confirmed to take Scalia’s seat.
But while the seat can be filled, Scalia’s impact on the court cannot be removed. According to the Christian Science Monitor, “Scalia used his keen intellect and missionary zeal in an unyielding attempt to move the court farther to the right after his 1986 selection by President Ronald Reagan. He also advocated tirelessly in favor of originalism, the method of constitutional interpretation that looks to the meaning of words and concepts as they were understood by the Founding Fathers (Christian Science Monitor).”
No doubt, the death of one person has up-ed the ante for the 2016 Presidential election, and threatens to end any further legislative debate or progress on things like social rights or debt management. As reported by Face the Nation, some pundits predict that Washington D.C. could be shut down over the question to ‘confirm or not to confirm’ whoever Obama nominates for Senate consideration and confirmation. To sum, Scalia’s untimely passing marks the end of Reagan’s conservative era, and the beginning of a likely nasty fight between Republicans and Democrats to control the third branch of government.
Sources:
"Frequently Asked Questions - Supreme Court of the United States." Frequently Asked Questions - Supreme Court of the United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
Pengelly, Martin, Ben Jacobs, Dan Roberts, and Alan Yuhas. "Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dies: Legal and Political Worlds React." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 14 Feb. 2016. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
Keller, Klee, Zeitz, Holdren. “The American Odyssey: A History of the United States.” 2009.
Liptak, Adam. "Antonin Scalia, Justice on the Supreme Court, Dies at 79." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Feb. 2016. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
"Antonin Scalia Remembered as Tireless Advocate of Constitutional Originalism." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
