US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia Dies on Texas Hunting Trip
On Saturday, February 13, 2016, US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia died apparently of natural causes while at a West Texas luxury resort.
Scalia appeared to be the wild card vote in Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association, an arguable attempt to kill unions by defunding them. The Supreme Court appeared to be divided along party lines, except possibly for Scalia.
Now, the Obama administration will have the opportunity to nominate another justice– surely a Democrat.
This could bode critically well for the unions– and for the Democratic Party, which relies on union funding.
“Could” is the key word.
The issue at hand is whether a Republican Congress would honor Obama’s nomination. They might hold out for the next administration. (UPDATE: Congress already said no to an Obama appointee.)
Thus, for now, Friedrichs could result in a 4-4 deadlock. So, it seems that the defunding of unions via Friedrichs is not likely to come to pass as soon as it seemed even yesterday.
For a quick read on the Friedrichs case, click here.
Anthony ScaliaSchneider is a southern Louisiana native, career teacher, trained researcher, and author of the ed reform whistle blower, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who In the Implosion of American Public Education.
She also has a second book, Common Core Dilemma: Who Owns Our Schools?.
