An eventful weekend

Over the weekend, I was driving across Wisconsin, the land of snowmobiles, camo as high fashion, and prisons (we saw three, which I found notable. Is Wisconsin really such a high-crime state?). Apparently some stuff happened while I was on the road.

First, we had a sandbox riot/debate by the leading GOP presidential candidates. Secondly, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away unexpectedly. The first event is worth commenting on, but the second is an earthquake, which is shaking up not only the Supreme Court's foreseeable future but the presidential race itself.

As far as the debate, well, the kids are definitely not all right. We've gotten to shouting and name-calling among these men who would be President. Can holding their breath until they turn blue be far behind? I was fortunate that I did not have to sit through this debate but just reviewing parts of it is pretty distasteful. Hopefully this is the low point of the campaign. But I wouldn't count on it.

In thinking about Scalia's passing, it occurred to me that he shares some things in common with GOP front-runner Donald Trump. (Please forgive my liberties with the present tense) Both are bombastic, larger-than-life figures. Both are very smart guys, though probably not as smart as they think they are. Both are entertaining, with Scalia's writing usually being a highlight of court decisions in recent years. I enjoyed reading the guy's take on cases, even when I thought he was totally wrong, which was often. And both can be wildly inconsistent; Trump has changed his positions 180 degrees on several issues, while Scalia would claim to represent tradition and disparaged "legislating from the bench" but at the same time threw out decades of precedents and sometimes his own rulings in order to reach decisions that fit his very partisan politics.

Scalia's passing means that another battle will be joined: Obama will try to do his job and appoint a new Justice, while the the leadership of the GOP will do what it sees as its job (oppose Obama at any cost) and try to run out the clock on BO's presidency before a Justice is appointed.

But aside from the presidential politics, the passing of Scalia means that a large number of SC cases that looked like they were going to turn out very badly for progressive causes will now have much less of an impact. There is some confusion, from what I've read, of exactly what will happen, but at the very least, many of the cases will not get a definitive SC ruling in the next term. The issues at hand affect unions, reproductive rights, affirmative actions, and other hot-button topics. The exit of Scalia is a huge deal for people following these cases.

For more, I urge you to read this in USA today and this in Scotusblog. Scotusblog in general is very likely the best authority on all things SCOTUS.