Supreme Court in Holding Pattern, Awaiting Ninth Justice
With a Clinton win more likely it’s time to ponder where this puts the Senate on President Obama’s nomination, Merrick Garland. The dynamics of the election are shifting, and the Senate has to wonder about two things :
- Will the precedent they are setting become Pyrrhic? Will Clinton appoint a justice much further left to demonstrate the danger of stifling a nomination? ( I certainly would in her shoes.)
- Will the precedent they are setting become Pyrrhic? Will the Senate change hands, and all of their machinations against the Democrats be used against them for 8 years or more?.)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is set to begin its new term as it ended the last one, down one justice and ideologically deadlocked on a range of issues.
The absence of a ninth justice since Antonin Scalia’s death in February has hamstrung the court in several cases and forced the justices to look for less contentious issues on which they are less likely to divide by 4-4 votes.
It could be several months, at least, before the nation’s highest court is again operating at full strength.
“It’s a very interesting time at the court. That doesn’t necessarily translate into interesting cases. In fact, it may translate into the opposite,” said Paul Clement, the Bush administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer and a frequent advocate in front of the court.
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