Letter: Scalia would urge president to make appointment

If I were into wearing those stretchy rubber bracelets, I would be wearing one that said “WWSD,” or “What Would Scalia Do?”

Antonin Scalia was a remarkable Supreme Court justice who took a very conservative point of view regarding our Constitution, “originalism.” To him the words of the Constitution were not enough. Originalists try to decipher exactly what the Founding Fathers were thinking those words meant at the time they were written. Scalia prided himself in never deviating from this principle.

All great lives come to an end, as did Antonin Scalia’s. The Supreme Court now has an empty seat that must be filled by presidential appointment with the “advice and consent” of the Senate. This clause (Article II, Section 2, Clause 2) is yet another part of our delicate balance of powers to keep the executive branch from gaining too much influence over the judicial branch.

Obviously, this appointment is very important, and there is a significant group of candidates and pundits who think it should wait until after this fall’s presidential election. They mostly favor the appointment of a Scalia clone, if one were available, and that would only happen if the GOP candidate were to win the White House.

Do they not see the irony in this? An originalist such as Scalia would say “Go ahead and make your appointment, Mr. President. The Senate will hold hearings and then weigh in with their power of advice and consent.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Letter: Scalia would urge president to make appointment."