memeorandum: Summing Up Scalia — Getting right to the point: (Scott Lemieux/Lawyers, Guns & Money)

8:45 AM ET, February 18, 2016

Top Items:

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Donald Trump Falls Behind Ted Cruz in National NBC/WSJ Poll — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has fallen behind Ted Cruz in the national GOP horserace, according to a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. — In the poll, Cruz is the first choice of 28 percent …

Isaac Chotiner / Slate:

MSNBC's Town Hall With Donald Trump Was Disgraceful — The media's coverage of Trump has been soft, insufficient, and without substance. — Is Donald Trump in trouble? After facing hostile questions from Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Wednesday night—they comprehensively laid out his flip-flops …

Discussion: Mother Jones

CBS News:

CBS News poll: Trump maintains commanding lead over GOP field — Donald Trump (35 percent) continues to hold a commanding lead over the rest of the field, with a 17 point lead over his closest rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz (18 percent). John Kasich (11 percent) has now risen to a virtual third-place tie with Marco Rubio (12 percent).

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire and USA Today

CBS News:

CBS News poll: The next Supreme Court justice, Obama, and the economy — The U.S. Supreme Court — With an unexpected vacancy on the Supreme Court as a result of Justice Antonin Scalia's death, it's unclear if he will be replaced before the November election.

Discussion: Politico, mprnews.org, Political Wire and NBC News

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Trump: I'll be ‘neutral’ on Israel and Palestine — GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Wednesday refused to pick sides in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. — “You know, I don't want to get into it,” he told hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski during a MSNBC town hall in Charleston, S.C.

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Mainstream G.O.P. Field of Three Faces Brutal Delegate Math — If the Republican Party remains divided for much longer, it will start getting more difficult for a mainstream candidate to win the nomination. — Yet Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and John Kasich all have incentives to stay in the race …

Andrew Shain / The State:
Haley endorses Rubio for president

Mike Zapler / Politico:
Rubio holds ‘town halls’ — with no audience questions

Discussion: Associated Press, Slantpoint, Talking Points Memo and American Bridge PAC

Eli Stokols / Politico:
Bush struggles to mask mounting frustration

Discussion: Washington Post, Guardian, National Review, Hot Air, Florida Politics, RedState and ABC News

Janet Hook / Wall Street Journal:
Ted Cruz Overtakes Donald Trump in Latest Republican Presidential Poll

Discussion: Power Line, The Week, Mother Jones, RedState and The Resurgent

Jamiles Lartey / Guardian:

Call for Obama to delay supreme court nomination is ‘absurd’, say legal scholars — Republican arguments for next president to choose Antonin Scalia's successor lack legitimacy within constitution and supreme court precedents, experts say — Republican calls for Barack Obama to refrain …

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Times and Refinery29

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

White House: Obama ‘regrets’ his filibuster of Supreme Court nominee — President Obama “regrets” filibustering the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in 2006, his top spokesman said Wednesday, though he maintains that the Republican opposition to his effort to replace Justice Antonin Scalia is unprecedented.

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Signal, CNBC, Power Line, The Week and CNN

Eliza Collins / Politico:

Obama to skip Scalia's funeral — President Barack Obama is preparing for a fierce battle with the Senate over the Supreme Court vacancy, but he's not planning to attend Justice Antonin Scalia's funeral — a decision that puzzled even some of his allies and incensed conservative media.

Kate Hudson / CBS News:

Ranch owner clarifies how he found Scalia amid conspiracy theories — For the second time this week, Donald Trump expressed skepticism about how Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died, alluding to conspiracy theories suggesting he was the victim of foul play.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, The Atlantic, Friendly Atheist, AOL, Talking Points Memo, The Week, NBC News, USA Today, Right Wing Watch and Mashable

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:
Summing Up Scalia — Getting right to the point:

Discussion: Balkinization

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Literal Holy Crap: Glenn Beck Says Scalia's Death Part of God's Plan to Elect Ted Cruz

Discussion: addictinginfo.org and Raw Story

David Lat / Above the Law:
Controversy Erupts At A T14 Law School Over How (Or Even Whether) To Mourn Justice Scalia

Discussion: Althouse, Instapundit, Campus Reform, The Daily Caller and The College Fix

Washington Post:
Why Justice Scalia was staying for free at a Texas resort

Discussion: Political Wire, The Hill, New York Magazine, Above the Law, Business Insider, Prairie Weather, The Atlantic, The Week, Mother Jones and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Scott Greer / The Daily Caller:
Glenn Beck: God Brought About Scalia's Death So America Would Vote For Ted Cruz

Discussion: Betsy's Page, The Last Refuge and Washington Post

New York Times: Blacks See Bias in Delay on a Scalia Successor

Eric Bradner / CNN:
Sandra Day O'Connor: Obama should name Scalia's replacement

Discussion: addictinginfo.org, Slantpoint and The Week

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Scalia's absence could shape election rules

Discussion: The Hill

Dan Guido / Trail of Bits Blog:

Apple can comply with the FBI court order — Earlier today, a federal judge ordered Apple to comply with the FBI's request for technical assistance in the recovery of the San Bernadino gunmen's iPhone 5C. Since then, many have argued whether these requests from the FBI are technically feasible given …

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Apple's Stance Highlights a More Confrontational Tech Industry

Discussion: US News, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Refinery29, Balloon Juice and Independent Journal Review

Shane Harris / The Daily Beast:
Apple Unlocked iPhones for the Feds 70 Times Before

Spencer Ackerman / Guardian:
Apple encryption case risks influencing Russia and China, privacy experts say

Discussion: Business Insider and Electronic Frontier Foundation

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:

Graham: GOP will get ‘slaughtered’ if Trump nominee — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) argued Wednesday that if Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, Republicans will get “slaughtered” in the November election. — Lambasting the outspoken Republican front-runner as an “opportunist,” …

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post: Trump says ‘torture works,’ backs waterboarding and ‘much worse’

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
Trump: Lindsey Graham a ‘disgrace,’ ‘nut job,’ ‘one of the dumbest human beings’

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, MARK-CM and Trail Blazers Blog

Luke Broadwater / Baltimore Sun:

DeRay Mckesson, civil rights leaders to meet with Obama — DeRay Mckesson … DeRay Mckesson, the prominent activist and late entrant into Baltimore's mayoral race, will meet with President Barack Obama and civil rights leaders at the White House on Thursday for an event honoring Black History Month.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
White House rips Schumer's ‘credibility’ on national security

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, ABC News and Moe Lane

Emily Smith / Page Six:

'Don't f-k with me': Hear Kanye's uncensored ‘SNL’ meltdown — Kanye West blasted Taylor Swift as a “fake ass” and called NBC staffers “white m— s” during his epic meltdown backstage at “Saturday Night Live. In an audio clip exclusively obtained by Page Six, Kanye can be heard repeatedly yelling at …

Discussion: TMZ.com, Mashable, Gothamist, Consequence of Sound, The Daily Caller, Just Jared and Refinery29

Jim Avila / ABC News:

President Obama Will Visit Cuba in Historic Trip Next Month, Sources Say

Discussion: CNN, Weasel Zippers, New York Magazine and The Week

Olivier Knox / Yahoo Politics:
Obama to travel to Cuba in March

Discussion: Politico and Washington Post

CNN:

Cliven Bundy indicted by federal grand jury — (CNN)Cliven Bundy and four others — including his sons Ryan and Ammon, who led the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon — were indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday, according to the U.S. attorney for Nevada.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Politicus USA, New York Magazine and Mashable

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

A Crank of the Far Right? — I have been vaguely aware of Milo Yiannopoulos for a while. He is a gay Brit who works for Breitbart News. Lately he has been embroiled in controversy on Twitter and on college campuses, but I hadn't paid enough attention to know what the fuss was about.

Discussion: Star Tribune