Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for February 26, 2016

Reminds me of the Robin Williams joke where a jihadist arrives in the afterlife expecting his 72 virgins and instead gets his ass kicked by 72 Virginians.

Rather kind of Ruben to depict Scalia in what would appear to be the prototypical representation of “heaven”, instead of elsewhere…

Scalia was unquestionably a learned jurist. However, being consistent in his “originalist” view regarding the U.S. Constitution doesn’t hold up to even cursory scrutiny. It is not hard to find examples where Scalia unhesitatedly ignored precedence, legislative history, and even seemingly clear language in the Constitution to justify his world view.

Scalia’s opinion on Obama’s lame duck status is correct for an originalist. The strict interpretation of the original wording indicates that Obama is only 3/5 of a president.

The irony is that the constitution is vague on what exactly the powers of the judiciary are. Chief Justice Marshall asserted for decades that the court had the power to invalidate “unconstitutional” law, but it took a long time for that to be accepted. Andrew Jackson, for example, said “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!”

By definition he’s not a lame duck because his successor hasn’t been elected yet.

Common sense doesn’t apply anymore. For the majority of Americans it’s tantamount to taxation without representation. Where have I heard that before?

Scalia failed to recuse himself on glaring conflicts of interest. (I’d add, “So did Thomas,” but that’s kind of automatic.)

Conservatives should be just as nervous about a Justice nominated by Trump as we are! “The Art of the Deal”…

Actually you’d think the founding fathers would agree with his view that only rich white men should be allowed to vote.

The sixth panel also applies to biblical interpretation.

Nothing is preventing the President from appointing a Justice. He just needs to do so. Then Senate can’t stop him nor has anyone suggested he cannot. There are no rules that the Senate must confirm his nomination, it is the reason for the advise and consent clause. Nor is there a requirement to even take up a vote on the successor before the next President is sworn in. This dust-up is political on both sides. to get the ideologues fighting back and forth over nothing.

In case you didn’t catch it, Scalia isn’t appearing as an angel, but a “spirit”. An evil and hypocritical spirit.