While the politicians make noise about filling Justice Antonin Scalia’s position on the Supreme Court, there are practical problems with a delay.  People forget these during the Supreme Court fight.  Sen. Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) flat out said the Republicans won’t allow any confirmation until there’s a new president.  Other presidential candidates warn that if President Obama is allowed to even nominate a candidate, it’ll be the end of America!!  Wow, I thought terrorism or illegal immigrants were going to bring down the country—

I don’t want to get into the political scare/delay tactics.  But there are practical problems caused by the Supreme Court fight.  Here’s a good, easy to read essay by Amy Berquist.  She’s a lawyer who clerked in the U.S. Supreme Court.  (Each justice hires a number of law clerks to help them)

http://www.startribune.com/looming-supreme-court-nomination-fight-is-government-shutdown-2-0/369888421/

Ms. Berquist makes a number of good points about the Supreme Court fight:

1.  Without an odd number of justices sitting on the Supreme Court, decisions could be split 4–4.  Meaning no final decisions.  Result: nothing happens.
2. One of the main functions of the Supreme Court is to decide between lower federal courts when they disagree.  Ms. Berquist reminds us that it often takes years to even get through the federal appellate courts.  Without a ninth justice on the SC, there’s going to be further delays.  You may ask, so what?  Don’t forget the reason the cases are in the courts in the first place: real people have serious, expensive, or harmful problems that need to be decided.
3. Even if a new justice is confirmed, it takes months for him/her to get up to speed.  A delay until after the election really means a delay of over a year.  The time the new president can start to consider candidates won’t come until spring of 2017.  This is why the Supreme Court fight and any delays make such a difference to the country.

There’s a great quote by retired justice Sandra Day O’Connor (Appointed by President Reagan):  “We need someone in there to do the job and just get on with it.”

This is the only common sense idea I’ve heard for months!