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| Republicans and Democrats return to trail after death of Antonin Scalia – campaign live | Republicans and Democrats return to trail after death of Antonin Scalia – campaign live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 2.46pm GMT | |
| 14:46 | |
| It’s time for speculation about potential nominees. On CNN, former Obama White House adviser David Axelrod mentions Kamala Harris, the attorney general of California, but doesn’t seem to think that’s going to happen. We also have some chat about Sri Srinivasan and Jane Kelly, both sitting, serving federal judges confirmed 97-0 by the Senate. | |
| Axelrod points out that won’t matter, because Republicans now, in the current circumstances, will not approve anyone who is suggested by Obama. QED. | |
| Updated | |
| at 2.48pm GMT | |
| 2.43pm GMT | |
| 14:43 | |
| NBC is trailing its chat with Ted Cruz, in which he says: | |
| We’re advising that a lame-duck president in an election year is not going to be able to tip the balance of the supreme court. | |
| We knew that. For some further reading, Cruz is a bit of an originalist when it comes to the US constitution, and praised Scalia for being one too. Here’s what Ben Jacobs found out about that the other month, when Donald Trump was saying Cruz was not qualified, by his Canadian birth, to be president: | |
| Related: Harvard scholar: Ted Cruz's citizenship, eligibility for president ‘unsettled’ | |
| 2.34pm GMT | |
| 14:34 | |
| The conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt says Patrick Leahy may have been being economical with the actualité just now when he talked about voting through nominations from Republican presidents. | |
| Well… it’s not unlikely a politician of any stripe would do that, is it? | |
| Related: Hugh Hewitt: is he Donald Trump's arch nemesis – or the antidote to Fox News? | |
| 2.31pm GMT | |
| 14:31 | |
| Now we have Patrick Leahy, the senator from Vermont who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate judicial committee. He’s asked about Mitch McConnell’s stance against any consideration, even, of a nominee to succeed Justice Scalia. His response is, predictably, forthright – and it invokes a Republican holy cow: | |
| I think he’s making a terrible mistake, certainly ignoring the constitution and their responsibility. President Obama is doing what President Reagan did at the end of his term. He nominated a supreme court justice, the nomination was at the end of his term, Democrats controlled the Senate and none of us intended to play politics with something as important as a supreme court nomination. The Democrats voted 97-0 in favour of President Reagan’s nominee. | |
| He’s got more about what he calls “the sheer dereliction of duty for the Senate not to schedule a hearing, not even to have a vote”. | |
| He’s asked about the Thurmond rule, by which a controlling party can let things drift at the end of a president’s time in office. | |
| “There is no such thing as the Thurmond rule,” Leahy says, sending a million journalists scrambling for their explainers of what happens next, with brimming bottles of Tippex. | |
| In the last two years of President George W Bush’s term Democrats controlled the Senate, Leahy says, and theyconfirmed Bush’s judges. “[The Republicans] are playing politics,” he says, “the same way they did when they killed President Clinton’s judges with the pocket veto.” | |
| Leahy then denies he is playing politics, or ever would: “I was there when the Democrats were in charge in last year of Reagan’s term and I urged that we go forward and we did. I’m pretty clear where I am.” | |
| He also says Justice Scalia was a friend. Their youngest sons played soccer in grade school on Sunday mornings, he says, and adds: “This is a terrible blow to his family, let’s not add to the blow by politicising this. | |
| “If the Republicans refuse to even hold a hearing I think that will cost them control of the Senate.” | |
| Updated | |
| at 2.31pm GMT | |
| 2.16pm GMT | |
| 14:16 | |
| Jeb! speaks | |
| “The debate stage was sizzling hot and the insults got personal,” says Bash, as CNN cut to a montage of debate insults like the one what we have here: | |
| Now we have Jeb Bush. Where does he stand on Scalia and replacing him: “In all likelihood Obama’s nominee will be outside the mainstream and will be rejected by the Senate.” | |
| Bush says Obama does have the power to nominate a new justice; he dodges a question about whether he thinks the Senate should at least schedule a vote, which they look like refusing to do. We’re on to previous appointments by Bush’s dad, HW – Souter and Roberts. Bush defends, of course. | |
| Scalia was very consistent, says Bush. Well, yes. | |
| On to the debate. “I don’t know him well enough to not like him,” Bush says about Trump and his insults last night in Greenville. “When he talks about foreign policy, it’s scary.” | |
| Bush still says Trump is not a proper nominee. He has said he’d support him against Hillary Clinton, though. | |
| And why is George W Bush now campaigning to help his brother? Why now? | |
| “He hasn’t done anything public since he left office so this is the right time,” says Bush. | |
| Does he regret waiting this long, given his brother’s continued popularity compared to his plummeting poll numbers? | |
| “Three or four obituaries have been written but I’m still alive,” says Bush. “He’ll help my campaign a lot.” | |
| “Yes I’m a Bush, I’m proud of my dad and my brother and my mom.” | |
| Jeb then says his aim for South Carolina is more than just to finish third and survive: “My hope is to be there as others drop out, to challenge the frontrunning candidate … my expectation is that I’ll beat expectations here.” | |
| No glasses for Jeb! this morning, by the way. I think they suit him. | |
| Updated | |
| at 2.18pm GMT | |
| 2.08pm GMT | 2.08pm GMT |
| 14:08 | 14:08 |
| Now Rubio is asked if he is questioning Ted Cruz’s status as a Latino, when he questions the Texas senator’s ability to speak Spanish, as he did last night in the debate. He denies it and instead hammers Cruz – as he did in the debate last night, you know blogging this really is a bit like watching a Beckett play – for lying, being a sneak in elections, for flip-flopping on immigration. Plus ça, or whatever that is in Spanish. | Now Rubio is asked if he is questioning Ted Cruz’s status as a Latino, when he questions the Texas senator’s ability to speak Spanish, as he did last night in the debate. He denies it and instead hammers Cruz – as he did in the debate last night, you know blogging this really is a bit like watching a Beckett play – for lying, being a sneak in elections, for flip-flopping on immigration. Plus ça, or whatever that is in Spanish. |
| Rubio doubles down on calling Cruz a lier, outright: “He is saying things repeatedly that are not true and he knows they are not true.” | Rubio doubles down on calling Cruz a lier, outright: “He is saying things repeatedly that are not true and he knows they are not true.” |
| Cruz has also been telling naughty fibs about Rubio’s stance on same-sex marriage and the supreme court, it seems. Or so Rubio says. | Cruz has also been telling naughty fibs about Rubio’s stance on same-sex marriage and the supreme court, it seems. Or so Rubio says. |
| And what about Chris Christie. “We’ve tried to get a hold of him,” says Rubio, of the man who eviscerated him in New Hampshire and then dropped out of the race. Rubio says he likes Christie, really, honest. | And what about Chris Christie. “We’ve tried to get a hold of him,” says Rubio, of the man who eviscerated him in New Hampshire and then dropped out of the race. Rubio says he likes Christie, really, honest. |
| 2.05pm GMT | 2.05pm GMT |
| 14:05 | 14:05 |
| It’s Rubio first. | It’s Rubio first. |
| As senator, do you have a responsibility to consider a nominee to replace Scalia? | As senator, do you have a responsibility to consider a nominee to replace Scalia? |
| No. Rubio goes back to his ground from last night, which is that no lame duck president has named a supreme court justice in his last year in office in 80 years, and that thus no, the Senate will not move. | No. Rubio goes back to his ground from last night, which is that no lame duck president has named a supreme court justice in his last year in office in 80 years, and that thus no, the Senate will not move. |
| “The court doesn’t meet all year, they have a term and it ends this summer,” Rubio says. He’s happy for an eight-member court and backs Mitch McConnell on the Senate doing nothing. | “The court doesn’t meet all year, they have a term and it ends this summer,” Rubio says. He’s happy for an eight-member court and backs Mitch McConnell on the Senate doing nothing. |
| What about Sri Srinivasan, whose name has come up as a possible Obama nominee? | What about Sri Srinivasan, whose name has come up as a possible Obama nominee? |
| What about him, Rubio says, essentially. “When I’m president of the United States I’m going to look for someone like justice Scalia. And they’re hard to find.” | What about him, Rubio says, essentially. “When I’m president of the United States I’m going to look for someone like justice Scalia. And they’re hard to find.” |
| No Republican seems to think the next president who does the appointing may be a Democrat. Odd, that. | No Republican seems to think the next president who does the appointing may be a Democrat. Odd, that. |
| 2.01pm GMT | 2.01pm GMT |
| 14:01 | 14:01 |
| The talk begins… | The talk begins… |
| We’re on CNN first, where State of the Union anchor Dana Bash says: “Welcome to Washington, where the state of the union is steeling for a fight.” I’m not sure that makes much sense. Who with? NBC’s Meet the Press? What with? Autocues at five paces? | We’re on CNN first, where State of the Union anchor Dana Bash says: “Welcome to Washington, where the state of the union is steeling for a fight.” I’m not sure that makes much sense. Who with? NBC’s Meet the Press? What with? Autocues at five paces? |
| 1.57pm GMT | 1.57pm GMT |
| 13:57 | 13:57 |
| Our Washington bureau chief, Dan Roberts, asks: Can anyone stop Donald Trump? | Our Washington bureau chief, Dan Roberts, asks: Can anyone stop Donald Trump? |
| The battle to stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican presidential nomination is sometimes compared, vividly, to a bucket of crabs. | The battle to stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican presidential nomination is sometimes compared, vividly, to a bucket of crabs. |
| After last night, I’m not sure I can improve on that. | After last night, I’m not sure I can improve on that. |
| Related: Is Donald Trump unstoppable or can more mainstream rivals reel him in? | Related: Is Donald Trump unstoppable or can more mainstream rivals reel him in? |
| 1.55pm GMT | 1.55pm GMT |
| 13:55 | 13:55 |
| And also and also … here’s Frankie. There’s a guy striding down a corridor purposefully in here, wearing a blazer and a shirt but no tie. There is no doubt that this Means Something. | And also and also … here’s Frankie. There’s a guy striding down a corridor purposefully in here, wearing a blazer and a shirt but no tie. There is no doubt that this Means Something. |
| 1.48pm GMT | 1.48pm GMT |
| 13:48 | 13:48 |
| …and also, here’s more Jeb Lund on the smorgasbord of insult, rage and incoherence that was the Republican debate: | …and also, here’s more Jeb Lund on the smorgasbord of insult, rage and incoherence that was the Republican debate: |
| … this debate veered fully into absurdity somewhere around the third time that Donald Trump told the actual truth about things that actually happened in actual history and was booed by the audience for his trouble. | … this debate veered fully into absurdity somewhere around the third time that Donald Trump told the actual truth about things that actually happened in actual history and was booed by the audience for his trouble. |
| After stating that the Bush administration lied to the American people in order to drum up support for the war in Iraq, failed to keep us safe on 9/11 and passed up opportunities to assassinate bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks, the sheer mutual antagonism between the candidates and a furious audience caused something between Trump and Bush to come thoroughly unglued. Then, they simply began arguing like two people with mutual antipathy towards one another rather than politicians. | After stating that the Bush administration lied to the American people in order to drum up support for the war in Iraq, failed to keep us safe on 9/11 and passed up opportunities to assassinate bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks, the sheer mutual antagonism between the candidates and a furious audience caused something between Trump and Bush to come thoroughly unglued. Then, they simply began arguing like two people with mutual antipathy towards one another rather than politicians. |
| From there, the madness spread through the debate: a great circle of abuse spun around fast enough to fling all sense away. Rubio hates Cruz who hates Trump who hates Bush who hates Trump who hates Cruz who hates Rubio. | From there, the madness spread through the debate: a great circle of abuse spun around fast enough to fling all sense away. Rubio hates Cruz who hates Trump who hates Bush who hates Trump who hates Cruz who hates Rubio. |
| Related: Does anyone understand what happened at the Republican debate? | Jeb Lund | Related: Does anyone understand what happened at the Republican debate? | Jeb Lund |
| 1.40pm GMT | 1.40pm GMT |
| 13:40 | 13:40 |
| While we wait for the shows … be still our beating hearts, quiet our throbbing temples, play a little light jazz, our aching brains … here’s a sampling of the Guardian’s opinion writers’ thoughts on Scalia, his passing and What It All Means: | While we wait for the shows … be still our beating hearts, quiet our throbbing temples, play a little light jazz, our aching brains … here’s a sampling of the Guardian’s opinion writers’ thoughts on Scalia, his passing and What It All Means: |
| Scott Lemieux: | Scott Lemieux: |
| It may well be a year – or several – before the Senate confirm anybody to replace Scalia, who died on Saturday at the age of 79. But that vote will almost assuredly not be unanimous, regardless of who the eventual nominee is: the politics of US supreme court appointments have become as polarized as the rest of American politics. | It may well be a year – or several – before the Senate confirm anybody to replace Scalia, who died on Saturday at the age of 79. But that vote will almost assuredly not be unanimous, regardless of who the eventual nominee is: the politics of US supreme court appointments have become as polarized as the rest of American politics. |
| And Scalia himself played a significant role in that very polarization. | And Scalia himself played a significant role in that very polarization. |
| Emily Zanotti: | Emily Zanotti: |
| US supreme court justice Antonin Scalia was not simply a paragon of American jurisprudence: he was an incredible legal scholar, a devout Catholic (his appointment marked the first time that two Catholics served concurrently on the US supreme court), a conservative stalwart, a great teacher and a dedicated family man. | US supreme court justice Antonin Scalia was not simply a paragon of American jurisprudence: he was an incredible legal scholar, a devout Catholic (his appointment marked the first time that two Catholics served concurrently on the US supreme court), a conservative stalwart, a great teacher and a dedicated family man. |
| His loss will not only be felt by the people whose lives he impacted through judicial proceedings, but by those he met and those he taught. For many of us, his loss is staggering and personal. | His loss will not only be felt by the people whose lives he impacted through judicial proceedings, but by those he met and those he taught. For many of us, his loss is staggering and personal. |
| 1.06pm GMT | 1.06pm GMT |
| 13:06 | 13:06 |
| Good morning, and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign, on the morning after the night when House of Cards came to life. | Good morning, and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign, on the morning after the night when House of Cards came to life. |
| Late on Saturday afternoon, news broke that the supreme court justice Antonin Scalia had died at a ranch in Texas, at the age of 79. Tributes were paid from right (“defender of the constitution and the rule of law, patriot, conservative”) and left (“although I did not agree with the justice on many things, he was a great man and a great lawyer and, surprisingly, a good friend of Ruth Bader Ginsburg…”) | Late on Saturday afternoon, news broke that the supreme court justice Antonin Scalia had died at a ranch in Texas, at the age of 79. Tributes were paid from right (“defender of the constitution and the rule of law, patriot, conservative”) and left (“although I did not agree with the justice on many things, he was a great man and a great lawyer and, surprisingly, a good friend of Ruth Bader Ginsburg…”) |
| The news world scrambled. | The news world scrambled. |
| And then, even as the stars and stripes was being lowered to half-staff at the supreme court, Republican senators and Republican senators’ staffers started to say it: there is no way the Republican-controlled Senate will let President Obama even nominate a new justice, never mind confirm one, not when the court is now 4-4 liberal-conservative split and the end of Obama’s term in the White House is 11 months away. | And then, even as the stars and stripes was being lowered to half-staff at the supreme court, Republican senators and Republican senators’ staffers started to say it: there is no way the Republican-controlled Senate will let President Obama even nominate a new justice, never mind confirm one, not when the court is now 4-4 liberal-conservative split and the end of Obama’s term in the White House is 11 months away. |
| And then, Obama, speaking from California – you could tell he was there because he was wearing a blazer and shirt but no tie – paid tribute to Scalia … and said he would indeed nominate a replacement. | And then, Obama, speaking from California – you could tell he was there because he was wearing a blazer and shirt but no tie – paid tribute to Scalia … and said he would indeed nominate a replacement. |
| And then the Republican debate started in South Carolina, and after a brief pause to remember Scalia and say in different ways that Obama shouldn’t even think about nominating a replacement… unless he would just be bipartisan for once and nominate a “consensus candidate”… the ordure hit the air conditioning. | And then the Republican debate started in South Carolina, and after a brief pause to remember Scalia and say in different ways that Obama shouldn’t even think about nominating a replacement… unless he would just be bipartisan for once and nominate a “consensus candidate”… the ordure hit the air conditioning. |
| Donald Trump went – with a vengeance spluttered through paroxysm after paroxysm of red-faced fury – after Jeb Bush. He went to 9/11 and Iraq, again – and, family honour at stake, Jeb jabbed back. | Donald Trump went – with a vengeance spluttered through paroxysm after paroxysm of red-faced fury – after Jeb Bush. He went to 9/11 and Iraq, again – and, family honour at stake, Jeb jabbed back. |
| Marco Rubio, a little less robotic this time, went after Ted Cruz. Cruz tried to speak Spanish. John Kasich didn’t actually say “Jiminy Jillickers, guys!” but he did say “Jeez, oh man” as he contemplated the bile, vitriol and viscera flying about the stage. And, at points, Ben Carson – remember him – seemed to wake up and realise that he is, somehow, still in the race. He said something about the constitution. His new book is about it, remember. | Marco Rubio, a little less robotic this time, went after Ted Cruz. Cruz tried to speak Spanish. John Kasich didn’t actually say “Jiminy Jillickers, guys!” but he did say “Jeez, oh man” as he contemplated the bile, vitriol and viscera flying about the stage. And, at points, Ben Carson – remember him – seemed to wake up and realise that he is, somehow, still in the race. He said something about the constitution. His new book is about it, remember. |
| It was quite a spectacle – in the way that a gang of three year olds squabbling over an Elsa dress at a playgroup Valentine’s Day party is a spectacle. It was bearable for about the same amount of time. | It was quite a spectacle – in the way that a gang of three year olds squabbling over an Elsa dress at a playgroup Valentine’s Day party is a spectacle. It was bearable for about the same amount of time. |
| Jeb Lund, comment maestro de nos newspaper office, he say: | Jeb Lund, comment maestro de nos newspaper office, he say: |
| What the hell happened on Saturday night? | What the hell happened on Saturday night? |
| The umpteenth (or penultiumpteenth) Republican Debate was an ecstasy of noise in which everything was indistinguishable. We are long past you-can’t-do-that-on-television. We are long past manufactured controversy. We are fully into clown slapfight. | The umpteenth (or penultiumpteenth) Republican Debate was an ecstasy of noise in which everything was indistinguishable. We are long past you-can’t-do-that-on-television. We are long past manufactured controversy. We are fully into clown slapfight. |
| Meanwhile, Frank Luntz, Republican pollster of pollsters, he may have a point when he say: | Meanwhile, Frank Luntz, Republican pollster of pollsters, he may have a point when he say: |
| Seriously, this is insane.The GOP is destroying itself tonight, and they have no one to blame but themselves. #GOPDebate | Seriously, this is insane.The GOP is destroying itself tonight, and they have no one to blame but themselves. #GOPDebate |
| …and after all that, this Valentine’s morning, the candidates (and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, remember them) will take to the talk shows and it will all begin again. | …and after all that, this Valentine’s morning, the candidates (and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, remember them) will take to the talk shows and it will all begin again. |
| Enter Francis Underwood, stage left, smirking in sinister fashion. | Enter Francis Underwood, stage left, smirking in sinister fashion. |
| Stick with us as we stick with it. Hopefully. | Stick with us as we stick with it. Hopefully. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.36pm GMT | at 1.36pm GMT |