Thing is that as a matter of practice, you can’t leave the vacancy for that long. The Court could be left with deadlocking 4-4 decisions, and that’s simply a recipe for disaster - for both sides of the aisle who have any understanding of the Court’s workings.

No, the President will face an interesting decision on who to consider for the seat. We will see some of the same names that came up during the Souter and Stevens replacements. Those retirements led to Sotomayor and Kagan.

And once again, the focus on the Supreme Court again reminds people of just how important winning in November has. The choice of a Supreme Court nominee confirmed by the Senate will have lasting effect on court decisions for a long time to come.