ATLANTA (February 22, 2016) | Sen. Marty Harbin (R – Tyrone) released the following statement on the death of Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
“On February 13, the Unites States lost one of the most influential legal figures of the last three decades, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Nominated by President Ronald Regan in 1986, Scalia was a constant conservative voice on the Supreme Court bench for over thirty years and possessed a pivotal vote in many of the Court’s rulings.
Justice Scalia was an avid constitutionalist, who never faltered in his conservatism or his dedication to a literal interpretation of the constitution as the Founding Fathers intended. Justice Antonin Scalia was a man who stood like a rock, trying to stem the tide of liberalism in America and remained steadfast in his conservatism throughout his tenure on the nation’s highest court.
While the appointment of a new Justice is a necessary duty to be carried out by Congress, the responsibility should lie with the next president of the United States to bring forth a nomination. With such a short amount of time left in President Obama’s term and with a heated presidential race, it only makes sense for Congress to wait until after the next president in sworn in to hear nominations for Scalia’s seat on the bench.
Scalia’s wit, sharp legal mind and enduring belief in Constitutional originalism will be sorely missed and I join my fellow countrymen in mourning the passing of the most influential justice of our era. Scalia was more than a Supreme Court Justice. He was a bastion of conservative idealism and he will be missed by all.”
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For Immediate Release:
February 22, 2016
For Information Contact:
Jennifer Yarber, Director
Gavriella Coffman, Communications Associate
gavriella.coffman@senate.ga.gov
404.656.0028