R's talk to ghosts and invent wholly new traditions why Obama cannot nominate successor to Scalia

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/22/the_rights_scotus_unreality_republicans_are_justifying_obstructionism_by_just_making_stuff_up/

Sen. Orin Hatch knows what Scalia would have wanted: To keep the SC at 8 members, because it works just as fine.

In 2005, Sen. Orin Hatch knew what the deceased Rehnquist would have wanted: For President George W. Bush to fill up the SC as quickly as possible.



Sen. Lisa Murkowski demanded that President Obama respect the long-held tradition of leaving SC-replacements to the successor in election-years. A long-held tradition that nobody has ever heard of and that has never been used.



Pundit Peggy Noonan demands that Obama shouldn't upset the fragile political balance of the SC. A 5-4 conservative majority was barely tolerable: Close decisions show the people that their cause is not going unheard. We need a politically balanced SC.
(Except when the decision was 5-4 for liberal causes, e.g. gay marriage, then close decisions are abominable and a sign of toxic political polarization.)