With the unexpected death of Supreme Court Antonin Scalia, comes the obvious question. Who will succeed him? And the answer to that question is predicated on who will choose Scalia’s successor. I don’t know who that will be, but I know who it had damned well better not be: Barack Obama.

Obama’s judicial choices have been mediocrities, at best. His two Supreme Court appointments — Kagan and Sotomayor — have been left wing political hacks with little legal acumen and no respect for the US Constitution. Obama will claim this appointment as his right but the Senate must stand fast and wait for the next president to make their choice.

There will be calls from the left for the Court to be filled out of respect for Obama, or a consolation prize for Obama for having done his damnedest to destroy the nation but failing to do so, or because they believe the Constitution demands the Senate give a left wing sociopath whatever he wants. There will probably be calls from our side declaring that urgent legal business needs to proceed and it can’t do so with only eight justices. There is no legal decision in this nation that is important enough to give Barack Obama yet another lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

Some senators are already weighing in:

Justice Scalia was an American hero. We owe it to him, & the Nation, for the Senate to ensure that the next President names his replacement.

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 13, 2016

And this from Mike Lee’s communications director:

What is less than zero? The chances of Obama successfully appointing a Supreme Court Justice to replace Scalia?

— Conn Carroll (@conncarroll) February 13, 2016

If anything this will put a full stop to all Obama judicial nominees going forward.

— Conn Carroll (@conncarroll) February 13, 2016

would love for someone to correctly identify when the last time a president successfully appointed a Court justice in an election year.

— Conn Carroll (@conncarroll) February 13, 2016

But, as we know, Mitch McConnell is a feckless, gutless, useless bag of flatulence who would rather kowtow to Obama and Harry Reid than eat when he’s hungry. Right now, McConnell is making pleasing noises — much like he did about repealing ObamaCare:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday that the Senate should wait until a new president is elected to confirm a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, whose sudden death Saturday shook Washington and threatened to reshape the 2016 presidential race.

Democrats said that with 11 months left in Mr. Obama’s tenure, the Senate has enough time — and indeed an obligation — to confirm a replacement.

Mr. McConnell, though, said voters must be given a say in the matter, and that means picking a president who will nominate the replacement.

So I suspect the Senate leadership will support a confirmation hearing and it will be up to individual senators to make sure this does not happen.

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