Supreme Court Justice Scalia found dead

[8.4L 154]

K50 DEL said:

BlackLabel said:

I'm surprised they don't have a term limit for such roles - a life tenure seems like an outdated concept.

In some ways it may be, but the thinking behind it is probably more relevant now than ever...

The Supreme Court is the highest law of the land and must be completely non-partisan, if the Justices had to worry about re-election / securing employment post term then, it is held, they might not be quite so unbiased. Hence it's a permanent, life appointment.

[BlackLabel]

How things change. Scalia's death was supposed to give the Supreme Court a liberal majority, instead it's moving further to the right.


"Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is set to retire, giving President Donald Trump the chance to cement a conservative majority on the top court."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-4463417...

[DeejRC]

By replacing one conservative with another. Funny thing about the conservative Kennedy chap, his name was against the most pro sexual liberal rights judgement in American history and considered the foundation stone upon which all other "liberal" ideas of sexual and gender equality have since been built.

These conservative Justices on the Supreme Court eh? I tell you...redneck nutters they are!

[Halb]

So long as the us doesn't start to go backwards, it should all be good
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-4456951...

[anonymous-user]

Breadvan72 said:

This is a potential game changer in many ways. Scalia was the most conservative of the Supremes, and his replacement will secure a liberal majority on the Court. If the Democrats regain the White House (which appears likely), the new President will in due course get to make one or two further appointments to the Court. This could lead in time to abolition of the death penalty and, wait for it, a real possibility of effective gun control.

That was from early 2016. Wow, how wrong was I!?

In mitigation, who the Hell would have predicted in early 2016 that the GOP would cynically deprive Obama of the SCOTUS appointment that was his by right, that by June 2018 Donald Trump would be President, that Theresa May would be PM for almost, that the UK would be under a year from crashing off a cliff of its own* devising, that Fascism would be pretty much out in the open in the US and in several European countries (and even a bit in the UK), and that Putin would be even more in charge than ever?

OK: the GOP bit was predictable. the rest - not so much.

*Sort of own devising. Maybe helped along a bit by Mr P.