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5:15 PM ET, February 16, 2016

Top Items:

Ari Melber / NBC News:

Obama Could Win SCOTUS Battle in This 17-Day Window — Senate Republicans are pledging to block any Supreme Court nomination by President Barack Obama until after November, hoping a Republican will replace him and fill the vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia.

Discussion: RedState, The Federalist, The Week, Chicago Tribune, Infowars and The Moderate Voice

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Carson: Republicans Wouldn't Wait To Replace Scalia If We Held The White House — “Then again, recognize that the two picks that the president has selected are ideologues, so there's really no reason to believe that his next pick wouldn't be an ideologue also.” — Matthew Cavanaugh / Getty Images

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, American Bridge PAC and Daily Kos

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Scalia's death could doom McDonnell and hurt Menendez — Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell could wind up one of the biggest losers as a result of Justice Antonin Scalia's unexpected death and the potentially protracted battle shaping up over his replacement.

Discussion: ABC News

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

GOP Senator Breaks Ranks, Calls Party's Supreme Court Strategy ‘Obstructionist’ — Senate Republicans' widespread vow to automatically block any Supreme Court nominee President Obama puts forth may be wavering. — Within minutes of Justice Antonin Scalia passing away on Saturday …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Slantpoint, Washington Post, Right Wing Watch, FiveThirtyEight, Daily Kos and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Chuck Schumer:

Republicans' Apples to Oranges Comparison on Supreme Court Nominees — Over the last couple of days, some Republicans, embarrassed by their partisan overreach in attempting to prevent the President from nominating a Supreme Court justice, have tried to use a 2007 speech I gave to justify their current obstruction.

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Examiner, The Atlantic, National Review, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Daily Kos and The Week

O. Kay Henderson / Radio Iowa:

Grassley hasn't decided whether to hold hearing on Obama's Supreme Court pick (AUDIO) — Republican Senator Chuck Grassley isn't ready to say whether he'll convene a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on President Obama's nominee to fill the opening on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, Talking Points Memo and New York Times

Alex Griswold / Mediaite:

Trump: ‘Pretty Unusual’ Scalia Was Found With ‘Pillow on His Face’ — During a Tuesday interview with talk show host Michael Savage, Donald Trump seemed to lend some credence to the conspiracy theories that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was murdered, saying it was “pretty unusual” they found a pillow on his face.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Right Wing Watch and AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …

John Boehner / Independent Journal Review Opinion:

The Time I Tried To Persuade Antonin Scalia To Run For Vice President — JOIN THE TEAM FOR ADDED BENEFITS: — Create an Account OR Log In — FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: — Submit — x — Views — ShareTweetEmail + — Independent Journal Opinion is an opinion platform …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Politico, National Review and The Week

New York Post:
Detectives question lack of autopsy in Scalia death

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Craig Gilbert / JSOnline:
Ryan supports blocking Obama nomination to replace Scalia

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA, The Atlantic, The Slot and New York Times

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg Business:
Scalia's Death Pushes Politically Shy Court Into Partisan Fray

Discussion: Politico, Working In These Times, Stanford Law School, Des Moines Register, BuzzFeed and SCOTUSblog

Harry Reid / Washington Post:
Reid to GOP: For the good of the country, stop your nakedly partisan obstruction

Mark Hensch / The Hill:
Reid warns GOP it will rue blocking Obama on court

Discussion: Washington Post

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Grassley won't rule out hearings on Obama's SCOTUS pick

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Daily Kos

Timothy S. Huebner / New York Times:
In Election Years, a History of Confirming Court Nominees

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Des Moines Register:
Grassley's Supreme Court stance is all about politics

Discussion: Daily Kos

Nina Totenberg / NPR:
Justice Scalia Will Lie In Repose At The Supreme Court On Friday

Discussion: Salon, Common Dreams, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway, Constitution Daily, Catholic Diocese of Arlington and Washingtonian

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Trump, Clinton Still Have Big SC Leads — PPP's new South Carolina poll continues to find Donald Trump with a wide lead in the state. He's at 35% to 18% each for Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, 10% for John Kasich, and 7% each for Jeb Bush and Ben Carson. — What's striking about Trump's support …

CNN:

In South Carolina, big leads on both sides — Washington (CNN)Donald Trump holds a broad 16-point lead among those likely to vote in South Carolina's Republican primary this Saturday, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton tops Bernie Sanders by 18 points …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Political Wire, Florida Politics and The Right Scoop

Eli Stokols / Politico:
Rubio surges back to electrify South Carolina

Discussion: ABC News, The State, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Hullabaloo, The Resurgent, No More Mister Nice Blog and American Bridge PAC

Jon Ralston / Washington Post:
Nevada is no longer a ‘lock’ for Hillary Clinton

Discussion: RedState

Nick Gass / Politico:
Cruz campaign asks stations to stop airing anti-Cruz ad

Discussion: RedState

Lydia Mulvany / Bloomberg Business:

The Parmesan Cheese You Sprinkle on Your Penne Could Be Wood — Some brands promising 100 percent purity contained no Parmesan at all. — The cheese police are on the case. — Acting on a tip, agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration paid a surprise visit to a cheese factory …

Discussion: The Week, Gothamist and Eater

Isiah Carey / KRIV:

US Marshals arresting people for not paying their federal student loans — HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Believe it or not, the US Marshals Service in Houston is arresting people for not paying their outstanding federal student loans. — Paul Aker says he was arrested at his home last week for a $1500 federal student loan he received in 1987.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Hot Air, Raw Story, addictinginfo.org and Moe Lane

Narayana Kocherlakota:

Lessons from the Crisis: Ending Too Big to Fail — Thank you, David, for that kind introduction. It is great to be back at the Brookings Institution. Before I begin, I just want to remind everyone that the views I express today are my own and not necessarily those of the Federal Open Market Committee …

Discussion: Guardian, Telegraph, Common Dreams, Vox and New York Times

Christopher Condon / Bloomberg Business:
Fed's Kashkari Floats Breaking Up Big Banks to Avert Meltdown

Discussion: The Daily Caller

John Nolte / Breitbart:

Trump Schedules Competing MSNBC Town Hall Opposite Cruz, Rubio CNN Town Hall — In yet another aggressive move that will thrill Trump supporters, late Tuesday morning, Jesse Rodriguez, Senior Producer of MSNBC's “Morning Joe,” announced a town hall event with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Mother Jones, Weasel Zippers and RedState

Gregory Krieg / CNN:
CNN announces back-to-back GOP town halls

Discussion: National Review and The Right Scoop

Daily Mail:

SCROLL DOWN TO HEAR SALLY MILLER — Sally Miller tells Daily Mail Online she met Clinton at parties and political functions in 1974 when she was a senate aide at the Arkansas State Capitol and he was preparing for his run for the House of Representatives. But their affair began when he was Governor of Arkansas

Discussion: BizPac Review, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Ben Schreckinger / Politico:

Campaigns secretly prep for brokered GOP convention — Mysterious outside groups are asking state parties for personal data on potential delegates, Republican campaigns are drawing up plans to send loyal representatives to obscure local conventions, and party officials are dusting off rule books …

Discussion: Vox, Hot Air and New York Magazine

Lawrence H. Summers / Washington Post:

It's time to kill the $100 bill — It's time to go after big money … Harvard's Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government, which I am privileged to direct, has just issued an important paper by senior fellow Peter Sands and a group of student collaborators.

Discussion: Infowars

Samtata / New York's PIX11:

Man caught in subway doors dragged to his death — KEW GARDENS, Queens — A commuter trying to get onto an F train just as its doors were closing became caught in those doors and was dragged to his death in Queens, an MTA official said Tuesday. — It happened about 6:45 p.m. Monday …

Discussion: KTLA, FOX2now.com and FOX5 San Diego

Christopher Keating / Hartford Courant:

Rennie: Kudlow Will Not Run for U.S. Senate Against Blumenthal — CNBC financial commentator Larry Kudlow, who recently spoke to The Courant at a Fairfield diner, is reportedly not running for the U.S. Senate, according to a supporter's email. — Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie …

Discussion: Politico and Political Wire

Jay Michaelson / The Daily Beast:

Why a Vote for Bernie Sanders Is a Vote for Donald Trump — Primaries don't elect presidents; they elect candidates who have to beat the other guys. A socialist who wants to raise taxes on everyone cannot beat any Republican, period. — Dear Bernie Voter,

Discussion: Shadowproof, Hot Air and Instapundit