Republicans never cease to amaze me. Whenever an issue seems cut and dry and there's no way a rational person can oppose it, extreme right-wing conservatives always find a way to oppose whatever Obama and the Democrats are saying. Whether it be poisoned water or blatant racism, the Tea Party/Conservative platform seems to be "Whatever the left thinks, we're against it." This leads to a platform that is blatantly hypocritical and harmful to anyone who wants a fully functional political system.
During President's Day weekend, justice Antonin Scalia died in his sleep at the age of 80. Scalia was a conservative judge, and his death means that there is now a four-four tie between conservative and liberal judges in the Supreme Court. Now, Obama's nomination will cause the first Liberal majority in the Supreme Court in a long, long time. Naturally, Republicans don't like this because it sets the odds against them when it comes to upcoming Supreme Court decisions.
So, how do Republicans react to this? Do they honor Scalia's death and respect that this is how the Supreme Court has been since the beginning of American politics? Suggest potential people for Obama to nominate? Nope. Shortly after his death, Republicans stated that they would block any Supreme Court nomination for the remainder of Obama's term, despite the fact that he has almost a year left in this term. The gamble they're taking is that a Republican will win the White House (which isn't that unlikely considering political history), and therefore, they can keep their majority in the Court.
The hilarious thing is that this is the party that claims to love the constitution. They will cite it every time a Democrat does anything they don't like, and they were behind the myth that Obama is anti-Constitution. Something I've learned throughout Obama's term is that Republicans only seem to care about the constitution when it protects cishet, male gun-owners.
Whether it be gay rights with the Indiana laws or misinterpreting common sense gun laws to be completely against the Secondnd Amendment when they don't completely ban guns, Republicans have a long track history of misinterpreting the constitution. Meanwhile, they claim that the Democrats are the party who hates the constitution and Obama is the president who will end the constitution once and for all.
However, whenever Obama tries to do his job, like make an executive order, he's challenged by the Republican Party, who claim that he's overstepping his boundaries, despite the fact that he's well within his rights to make them. Now, Obama will have a harder time appointing someone to the highest court because of partisanship and a lack of understanding of how the constitution works. Obama has rights too and, according to the very document Republicans love, has a job to do. If Republicans understood the constitution as much as they claim to do, they'd let him do it.
