On February 13, conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead at the age of 79. He was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1986, adding a strong conservative opinion to controversial issues such as abortion rights, gun control laws, and the death penalty just to name a few. His death leaves only eight Justices on the court, split evenly down party lines, and the Court needs a new nominee to break any ties. When a judge is appointed to the Supreme Court, they serve their term for life or until they retire on their own accord; the appointment of a Supreme Justice has long-lasting repercussions. Now that Obama is in the last year of his last term, Congress is debating whether or not he has the right to appoint someone who will have so much influence over the future of America, or whether the Supreme Court should wait for the next president to appoint a Justice.

    The process for picking a new judge on the Supreme Court is an involved process, and the president’s nominee must be more than qualified. For example, one of the potential candidates that Obama initially considered attended Harvard, Yale, and Stanford throughout his career. If Obama were to appoint one of the judges, it would not be a decision taken lightly.

   Those on the Senate Judiciary Committee who are Republican have already made a statement declaring they will not support any appointee by Obama. Even people who support Obama, though, may question whether six months is enough time for him to parse through and examine the qualifications of every nominee. Some may feel that such an important matter should be given more time so that each choice may be considered carefully, and Obama, with less than a year left, may not have that time.

   Junior Cole Parker believes that the next president should nominate a Justice to take Scalia’s place.

   “I think that Obama has the ability to [put forth a nominee], and it wouldn’t be bad, but if it were me, I would wait until the next president has been elected so that we can start from the beginning, in a sense,” he said. “Obviously things are going to change as far as politics go…That could skew other issues.”

   Junior Casey Aldrich also agrees that Obama should leave the nominee to his successor.

   “In my personal opinion, part of me believes that Obama should not elect a new court justice and should wait until the next president,” she said, but went on to say, “but half of me also believes that if he were to try to push the Supreme Court into a more liberal state, then he should elect the next court justice. I would probably more agree with nominating a liberal judge. I think the court has been too conservative over the last few years.”

   Aldrich also noted that Scalia had been good friends with one of the most liberal judges on the Court before he died.

   Whoever elects the next Justice, it is clear that their decision will have long-lasting consequences for the country.