COULD OBAMA MAKE A RECESS APPOINTMENT TO REPLACE SCALIA?:  The answer appears to be “yes,” because (once again), the GOP-controlled Senate voluntarily has left itself vulnerable to the exercise of such presidential power.  Article II, section 2 of the Constitution gives the President power to fill vacancies …

Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford is the most likely nominee to replace Antonin Scalia  —  In thinking about how to respond to the vacancy on the Supreme Court, the administration has two priorities.  First, fill the Scalia seat by getting a nominee confirmed.

Justice Scalia Died of Heart Attack, No Autopsy Planned, Breitbart Freaking Out  —  WFAA TV in Dallas reports that Justice Antonin Scalia's death was due to a heart attack; there are still conflicting reports about whether an autopsy will be performed, but the Washington Post says Scalia's family declined an autopsy.

Supreme Court vacancies in presidential election years  —  In the wake of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, questions have arisen about whether there is a standard practice of not nominating and confirming Supreme Court Justices during a presidential election year.

The Next Supreme Court Nominee  —  Let me put down a few thoughts about two circulating talking points on the possible treatment of a nominee to replace Scalia.  Here is the Times framing the use of the filibuster:  —  Filibusters of Supreme Court nominations are rare …

Official: Scalia died of heart attack  —  MARFA, Texas — The death certificate for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will list myocardial infarction — a heart attack — as the official cause of death, Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara told WFAA on Sunday.

Is a recess appointment to the Court an option?  (UPDATED)  —  UPDATED Sunday 8:48 a.m. The Senate is currently in recess until February 22.  The recess began on Friday.  Whether this opens an opportunity for a recess appointment depends upon how Senate leaders interpret an adjournment resolution approved last Friday.

If Republicans block Obama's Supreme Court nomination, he wins anyway  —  After Justice Antonin Scalia's death Saturday at 79, the Supreme Court is now evenly divided between four liberal justices and four conservatives, even with Anthony Kennedy's occasional swings.

Trump and Drudge for the win, again: Matt Drudge's army is bigger than the RNC's  —  Yes, Trump got booed by GOP loyalists at the debate.  But the reaction that matters, again, was afterwards on Drudge  —  Well, that was brutal.  Wasn't it?  The Republican presidential debate in South Carolina …

Trump was out of control in South Carolina debate  —  Donald Trump was so awful, so horrible, so disgusting in the latest Republican debate — his lies, his distortions, his deceits, and his libels thicker and fouler than they've yet been—that he's done us all a favor.