RIP Nino

I was deeply saddened to hear of the death on Saturday of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. As should be evident from my post on the recent Obergefell decision, I had great admiration for Justice Scalia's tightly-reasoned arguments based on originalist principles. Insofar as his originalism tended to conserve the original meaning and value of the Constitution, he was perhaps the greatest conservative mind of our time and his passing should be mourned by us all.

As for what will happen next, Mr Obama has every right to send a nominee up to the Senate to replace Justice Scalia. The Senate likewise has every right to decline to confirm that nominee. In particular, even if Mr Obama sends up a nominee with impeccable credentials, the nominee may be rejected on the grounds that the Senate does not find his/her judicial philosophy to be suitable for the duties of a Justice (or because of insufficient clarity about his/her judicial philosophy). We have been taught by our Democratic colleagues that rejecting a judicial nominee on such grounds is ok. For, it was they who in 1987 refused to confirm Robert Bork on the grounds that his judicial philosophy was unacceptable and in spite of the fact that Mr Bork was a jurist of unimpeachable qualifications.