This attempt to stonewall the SCOTUS for eleven months is the most blatant example of the GOP refusing to do their job since they shut down the government over a decade ago. I wonder how it would be if they had their own jobs on the line.
I wonder how they’d react if we got a petition going that said quite simply, “If you do not have a new justice on the Supreme Court within three months, then come November, and every election November after that, we, the people, will vote you out of office. We will hand Congress back to the Democrats because you are unable and/or unwilling to do your job.”
If we got a million people or more to sign it, from both parties, I wonder how that would go down?
Hëll, ten million.
PAD
• 
This is a great thought except that there are far too many people out there who won’t do the right thing, vote the right candidate. They will only respond to the kneejerk reaction that the other party is wrong and I can only vote for MY party. I have one acquaintance that will cry til the cows come home the evils of the liberals and how the want to end life on earth as we know it. If any one tries to respond to this, his answer is always that one is either a “slave to the lame stream media” or “you just can’t stand it when someone’s opinion differs from yours.”
I would sign that.
In short, they wouldn’t. Relax. You’re letting both sides pawn you. The democrats tried to pull something when Dubyah picked a justice too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush_Supreme_Court_candidates
Look, don’t get all worked up about this, it’s not good for you. Trust me when I say this but neither side of the government are evil–they are instead, incompetent. It’s pretty much always been like this and I see it as unlikely to change (Yes, it could be sooooooooo much better, whatever your definition of better is and then we can all get on unicorns and ride off into the sunset). I guess it’s because of the internet that we’re in this insanity. Both sides are scrambling to remain relevant and not stagnant. But they’re forcing the issue so nothing will work out right. You seem so bent on your ideas being always right but the truth of the matter is that they will never play out just as you see it in your head, because you haven’t factored in the human element and the human element always messes things up. Sorry. It’s our nature.
I will tell you a story. I was mad at the process, a certain beady eyed weasel of a presidential candidate shut down the government in 2013 for two weeks (remember that?). I wanted congress all gone. They did a number at work, some of us got paid due to some bureaucratic shenanigans, some didn’t because they couldn’t work the system the same–this caused many problems in morale and those people lost money and couldn’t take leave. On top of that not one member of congress took a pay cut. I had a plan (mind you, I’m paraphrasing, I had a lot worked out and it seemed pretty solid) to replace congress with every day people via a lottery. Then I thought about it. I thought about it hard. Then I realized one thing: imagine the dumbest person you know. Then imagine them with the power to create any law (ban on Cheeto dust or something). Then image a whole room of them because fate or God decided to let us have it, and then that law getting passed. Not reasonable people who would look into a topic and research and read the bill that was being passed but people who could possibly get up on the floor and filibuster by making armpit fart noises (given people would then watch CSPAN) for no good reason other than they could. I then decided to calm down and then they let us go back to work.
Obama’s presidency isn’t over yet. A lot can happen between now and November. Just sit back and watch the show.
Sour Sam Clemens
{Actually, Sam said “school boards”, but…}
That fact that he IS Justice Scalia should make the difference in the situation rather clear..
Whoops, wrong reply.
The Republican position seems to be: We are doing our jobs. Nothing in the Constitution requires us to hold nomination hearings. It just requires us to advise and consent. And we’re taking the “consent” part really loosely.
http://nyti.ms/1KI7jac
I will sign this right now. But I dread that it will have little effect. Shucks, we can’t get the electorate out to vote NOW – it’s easier to sit at home and bìŧçh at whoever is in power and keeping “the people” down.
The American public is becoming more and more disenfranchised, and they don’t even know it. The United States has changed from a democratic republic to a plutocratic oligarchy (loose translation: them what has the gold makes the rules.) There’s trouble coming for this country in the next twenty years or so…
And there will be 2 million/20 million who want to build a wall to keep out all the lawyers. Obstructionism – not the “wear them down until they come around to your point of view” tactic, but simply the Single Finger Salute – is the end, not the means.
Cancer had a higher approval rating than congress at one point and it did mot prompt them towards any sane actions.
I suspect that while many folks have a unfavorable view of Congress as a whole, they tend to have a more favorable view of their own senators and representatives. A sort of “Congress-is-a-bunch-of-crooks-but-my-guys-are-OK” mentality. To the extent that that’s true, that might make it challenging to get millions of folks to pledge to vote out their own representatives (even if they would agree that other states’ representatives should be voted out) or for any such petition to be regarded as credible enough to be effective.
Which is why the GOP has taken to the tactic of gerrymandering the House districts, and why it has worked so well for them.