Which Justice of the Supreme court do you wish Obama could replace next?

[Liberal_in_LA]

Poll question: Which Justice of the Supreme court do you wish Obama could replace next?

NOT which one is most likely to retire but, if you could wave a magic want, which Supreme court Justice
would you like to see replaced?

Poll result (137 votes)
John Roberts	(17 votes, 12%)	Vote
Samuel Alito	(2 votes, 1%)	Vote
Stephen Breyer	(1 votes, 1%)	Vote
Ruth Ginsburg	(2 votes, 1%)	Vote
Anthony Kennedy	(2 votes, 1%)	Vote
Antonia Scalia	(91 votes, 66%)	Vote
David Souter	(0 votes, 0%)	Vote
John Stevens	(0 votes, 0%)	Vote
Clarence Thomas	(22 votes, 16%)	Vote

[wryter2000]

1. I can only click on the Scalia button once!

Not fair!

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. This ain't one of those CNN quick polls!

[jberryhill]

2. What would Thomas do without Scalia

It would be like unmooring a boat. No idea where it might float off to.

[FSogol]

4. and I can't click on the Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts buttons at the same time. n/t

[On the Road]

5. I Used to Think That Scalia

was a very conservative but thoughful and principled judge. Bush v. Gore convinced me he was an unprincipled hack.

But Scalia is on his way down. Roberts may turn out not to be quite as bad as advertised.

The one that worries me now is Alito. He might turn out to be the most conservative of any of them, and in ten years could be heading the list of most hated justices.

[wryter2000]

9. I'm with you

And "get over it" on 60 Minutes put the frosting on the cake. His so-called credentials are just window-dressing for doing whatever the hell the latest "conservative" cause is.

[WeDidIt]

16. I picked Scalia as my favorite to be replaced

because he's so much older than Alito.

IF Sclai or Thomas were to go, we'd have a generation of cernter to center-left SCOTUS decision. Alito would be the primary author of dissenting opinions.

[AndyA]

6. Saclia, Thomas, Roberts. In that order.

None of them belong there in the first place.

[gademocrat7]

7. If I could wave a magic wand the following would be gone.

Roberts, Scalia, Alito and Thomas

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. no no. The magic wand only removes ONE justice.

[Phoonzang]

8. Roberts, if only because he's so young.

Well...compared to the rest of them that is...

[wryter2000]

10. Scalia's too evil to die

Heaven doesn't want him, and he'd give hell a bad reputation.

[Somawas]

11. Four douchebags-one vote. Not fair.

[SCantiGOP]

12. that's a tough vote

Unfortunately, the four receiving votes are the ones least likely to leave in the next 8 years.

[bigwillq]

13. Scalia

Don't like him at all.

[YOY]

14. One of the two fake Italians.

Don't really care which one.

[Vattel]

15. There's no comparison between Thomas and Scalia

Besides Souter, Scalia is the only justice who has tried to defend habeas corpus against the abuses of Bush's executive power. Read his opinion in the Hamdi case if you don't believe me. He argued that Hamdi should have been charged with a crime or released. Thomas, on the other hand, argued that the govt could detain Hamdi forever without any hearing, not even one before a military tribunal. On the rights of citizens not to be detained by the govt without due process, Scalia is great and Thomas sucks.

[Uzybone]

17. Scalia, then Thomas, then Roberts (in a late surge)

[Bake]

18. Get rid of Thomas and Alito

Replace them with RATIONAL justices, and Scalia would retire. And we'd have his seat too.

Bake

[damntexdem]

19. Yeah, I had to go with Scalia. But there are so many other good picks!

How about some Rooseveltian court-packing, but this time successful?

[MrCoffee]

20. Anthony Kennedy, no contest

[galaxy21]

31. Isn't Kennedy the one upholding roe vs wade?

He wasn't a great choice by any means, but there are worse.

[MrCoffee]

32. No, there aren't

Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito can consistently be counted on to suck, but Kennedy, he's a sneaky bastard. He loves the power he gets from being the "swing" vote and fancies himself the ultimate arbiter because of it.


He's a colossal egomaniac and I'd replace him with a flaming liberal judge, which would relegate the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to permanent minority status.

[galaxy21]

34. He's a typical moderate judge, no better or worse

I'm not denying it would be better if were to be replaced by a liberal, but saying he's the exact same as Thomas or Scalia is unfair.

I won't deny he gets a kick out of messing with both sides though. He is the most powerful person on that court, and he knows it.

[rurallib]

21. Antonia Scalia?

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. Did I change his gender?

[Sebastian Doyle]

22. Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy should be removed for their part in the Florida election theft in 2000.

Roberts should be removed because he's an unqualified idiot.

Not a big fan of Alito either, and it still pisses me off that the usual spineless suspects confirmed his nomination, but there doesn't seem to be a valid reason to get rid of him.

[kevinds13]

25. You all should read The Nine, by Toobin.

The vote would be overwhelmingly in favor of Anthony Kennedy. Comparatively, Scalia and Thomas don't have the clout or personalities to swing votes on the court, whereas Kennedy (since O'Conner left) plays the swing vote on 5-4 cases. In fact, of 27 5-4 votes in 2006, Kennedy was in the majority for all 27 cases. He'd be who I would replace...with a raging liberal activist judge.

[Vattel]

26. Kennedy does truly suck

He would still be second on my list to Thomas, because Thomas believes that the President is an absolute monarch when it comes to national security. (Yoo clerked for Thomas.)

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

33. But if Scalia or Thomas were replaced by a liberal justice Kennedy wouldn't be such a swing vote

Kennedy is a swing vote because Scalia and Thomas will always vote wrong. If Scalia voted 50-50 then Kennedy's swing role would be cut in half.

So the right answer is that which changes the most votes including the votes of the justice herself.

So it has to be the justice whose replacement would represent the most change, not the justice it would be handiest to control on the court as currently constituted.

[galaxy21]

35. Who would be willing to let Obama pick his replacement, though?

Kennedy...maybe.
Scalia. Not a chance.
Thomas. Probably not.

[meow2u3]

27. Antonia (sp?) Scalia?

I didn't know Scalia was female!

[specialed]

28. Scalia...

He is a traitor to the constitution.

[Joe Bacon]

29. Any one of the Felonious 3

Kennedy, Scalia or Thomas.

They should have been impeached for illegally installing W.

[Joe Bacon]

30. Any one of the Felonious 3

Kennedy, Scalia or Thomas.

They should have been impeached for illegally installing W.

[quakerboy]

36. Roberts in a heartbeat

Sure, Scalia sucks. But he is also at an age where he may retire somday in the foreseeable future, where Roberts looks to be plagueing us for a good while to come. So my magic wand would remove Roberts asap.

[Milo_Bloom]

37. Scalia has brief moments of humanity, Thomas has none.

Thus, Thomas for me.

[Jamastiene]

38. I think Scalia will get the most votes in this poll...hands down. n/t