A Supreme Court vacancy that gets filled with someone the other side likes is a wasted vacancy. Republicans understand this which is why they appoint hacks like Alito, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas.
Yesss. While I don't really want either side to nominate crazy people, I do hope Democrats stack the Supreme Court with very liberal justices. I really don't even want them to try and please Republicans/conservatives. The amount of disrespect Republicans have shown Obama, the unprecedented obstruction, has pushed things too far. They don't deserve consideration and the second it becomes possible to go around them, that is what should be done.
Simply put, at the first available moment, I would like Republicans to pay dearly for their actions the past 6+ years.
Republicans will be hurt more politically by rejecting a moderate nominee they already voted to confirm once before nearly unanimously, than by rejecting a more liberal nominee.
That I believe is President Obama's thinking.
I agree in part. I think Republicans would be hurt by such a nominee. However, I think the most pain would be inflicted by a nominee that was of colour or a woman (or both). I'm rather uncertain as to the future temperament of certain potential nominees, including Srinivasan or Kelly. Either one would make a fine choice to replace Scalia. If Republicans don't want to play ball now, perhaps future President Hillary Clinton with a new-found Senate Majority may feel it necessary to appoint CA Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu or even constitutional law scholar Pamela Karlan (my personal favourite to join SCOTUS).
Liu would never get 60 votes (no path for dems to pick up 14 seats), and he might not even get to 51 - I could see the Romney-state dems voting against him.
