Cruz has already tweeted that America owes it to Scalia for his replacement to be appointed by the next President. So I guess he'd rather have that appointment made by Bernie.

Sadly, I expect the Republicans will agree with Cruz and block ANY nominee Obama puts forth in the hope that they will retain control of the legislative, and grasp control of both the executive and judicial in one stroke.
His passing (and likely not being replaced) should have every single American itching to get to the voting booth. This election just got even MORE consequential for the direction our country goes from here...and I didn't think that was possible.

Women, minorities, individual voters, and those who like drinkable water and breathable air should all rejoice. This single man has held our country back from advancements (social, political, or ecological) more than any other individual person in history. He's the one responsible for the legal concept of 'corporate personhood' and passing 'citizens united' which took our broken political system and repeatedly smashed it in the teeth with a sledgehammer.
Good riddance in my opinion, I'm not the least bit sad about his death, but I am a bit worried what might happen from here.
*promote a possible glimmer of hope that our country might course correct now....it's a dim glimmer, but more 'light' than we've had for quite a while now.

Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Saturday, February 13th, 2016 4:31pm PST - promote requested by newtboy.

Taking bets on how long Republicans attempt to drag this out. Longest selection process has been just over 3 months.

This is lose lose for the Republicans. The longer they try to stall, the more they guarantee a Democratic White House. Democrats have a problem voting in midterms, but they don't have that problem with general elections.

I'll just take the opportunity and quote from Hunter S. Thompson's comment on Richard Nixon's death:

"If the right people had been in charge of Nixon's funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin."

http://www.theonion.com/graphic/justice-scalia-dead-following-30-year-battle-socia-52356

That is hilarious... and painfully accurate...

As expected, they are already claiming a 'lame duck' president has no right to select a justice , constitution be damned.
Many have also been calling on their cohorts to not only block any nominee, but to block any vote on the matter at all until after the election.

I think you are right that blocking any confirmation could hand the Dems the white house. It seems they have a decent chance to retake congress as well, and more purely politically motivated Republican governmental stalling is just what it might take to hand them the entire election.

The coming election could be the most important in living memory if all 3 parts of our system are up for grabs at once. That's CRAZY, and more than a bit scary.

Yeah, it could be huge. I've been saying for a long time that things are slowly shifting more to the left. Scary to think it might actually hit a tipping point.

Way too soon to celebrate though. Gov't isn't designed to change on a dime, and Dems aren't saints either, they're just the lesser of two evils. Reps will lash out more and more the further out of power they get and it's niave to think that some of the desperate ones with nothing left to lose won't turn to violence like the Oathkeepers and the other wannabes.

Not that I agree with Scalia's politics, but those who have so much hate for him have to remember - it takes a majority to reach decisions on the Supreme Court, and that means at least 4 other justices agree with Scalia on every single 5-4 decision that was "the end of the world".
Their only duty is to determine the Constitutionality of a case, not to change the Constitution.
(so all that hate should really be pointed at Congress and/or Executive Actions)

I agree, but I think Scalia stands out for the truly atrocious things he's said in the media, hence more vocal hate.
At the same time, he could have just been drawing the media, or a scapegoat all along, because for all I know those 4 other judges agreeing with him could have said equally as terrible things that didn't reach the general populace.

it's all about interpretation. Interpretation has huge ramifications. When SCOTUS rule that gay marriage was legal, it was under the premise that gay marriage fell under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. SCOTUS didn't make any new laws, they just interpreted existing ones.

Same thing with the 2nd amendment. It hasn't changed at all, since it was put into effect, but legal battles over interpretation rage today and will continue to rage probably long after we're all dead.

Interpretation tends to fall along the lines of whatever your politics and personal biases are.

If everything was settled, we wouldn't need courts and majority opinions change all the time. It's a rather pesky aspect of this thing we call humanity and civilization.

Legal historians will use Scalia's legacy as a communal toilet.

Or Christopher Hitchens on Jerry Falwell:

"If you gave him an enema he could be buried in a matchbox"

What exactly did Scalia do that is so horrible people feel the need to shit on him after he is dead? Serious question. Because, from what I can tell from the comments on the Internet, it consists mostly of "I didn't agree with what he said so he should burn in hell."

Fuck that noise. That's partisan bullshit, the same kind the Republicans are pulling now (saying they won't allow any legislation to pass until Obama is out of office).

The man was a human being. He was a brilliant legal scholar. He viewed the law from a particular perspective and stayed true to that perspective until the very end. No, I don't agree with a lot of the arguments he made, but I do agree with some of them, like the argument that video games are a form of speech protected by the Constitution (read the majority ruling that he wrote for that case, it is brilliant).

As has been pointed out, he couldn't do jack shit without getting a majority opinion from the other justices on the court. And I've never read a legal opinion of his that wasn't grounded in a reasonable interpretation of the law. I don't need to agree with his interpretations to recognize them valid.

So again I ask, what did he do that was so atrocious that it warrants the hatred that's being direct at him. If it were Donald Rumsfeld or George Bush Jr., people who can (and should) be seen as directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, maybe I could understand the vitriol.

You answered your own question.
For one thing, he IS responsible for GBJr by deciding that, somehow, counting the votes in Florida endangered the election and appointing Bush...to over simplify the situation. True enough, he did have 4 others agree with him, but he was well recognized as the ring leader of the right wing of the court, so he rightly gets the lion's share of blame for their rulings.

That said, I for one don't HATE him as a person, but I'm not a tiny bit sad he's no longer serving on the court. His positions and rulings have been disastrous for our country in many ways, IMO.

Further down on the Onion...

Here is a step-by-step guide to how U.S. Supreme Court justices are selected:

Step 1: Supreme Court vacancy opens after a sitting justice dies, retires, or is promoted to the Galactic Circuit
Step 2: President wistfully crosses out own name from list of potential candidates
Step 3: Official presidential nominee slowly lowered by rope into Senate Judiciary Committee pit
Step 4: Nominee charged one-time $30 background check fee
Step 5: Candidate asked whether they see themselves in exact same place 35 years from now
Step 6: Judiciary Committee members ask nominee whether they capable of writing a dissent that could be described as “blistering”
Step 7: Candidate attests they have no opinion whatsoever on issue of abortion, don’t know what it is, and frankly have never heard such a word uttered before
Step 8: Senate takes nominee out to drinks to see how they act in casual, informal setting
Step 9: Nominee stands as their predecessor’s robe is draped over them to see if government can save a few bucks on not ordering a new one
Step 10: Following months of direct questioning, witness testimony, and poring over the nominee’s qualifications and judicial history, the Senate votes on whether they like the president or not
Step 11: If confirmed, justice takes oath of office and is assigned a bench buddy to help them through their first few opinions
Step 12: If candidate not confirmed, process repeats indefinitely until other party holds White House or country is awash in the hot, crimson blood of neighbor killing neighbor, whichever comes first

It should be expected that Republican block any Obama appointment because any of his picks would only measure up to a distant shadow of Scalia.

Republicans leaders have a knack of caving in so let them grand stand awhile and they will cane in a few months.

3 months sounds about right for the cave in .

The Senate approves / rejects the Justice that Obama appoints.

The Senate also approves what will be heard on senate floor. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell might not even let this go to the floor for a hearing. But the republican leadership will cave like like every other time and give Obama what he wants.