Scalia's Death May Affect 6 Big Cases

The death of Antonin Scalia has set the stage for a massive partisan battle during a time that was already unlikely to go down in history as a golden age of bipartisan cooperation in DC. The biggest dispute centers on whether nominating a Supreme Court successor during an election year should be considered outrageous or routine. Some related highlights:

• Scalia's death may affect six major cases this term on immigration, abortion, contraception, labor unions, voting rights, and affirmative action, and the New York Times lays them out. USA Today also has a breakdown.
• SCOTUSBlog looks at election-year nominations since 1900 and finds there have been several nominations and confirmations—and there's little evidence of any tradition of leaving a seat open during election years.
• In a Sunday interview with ABC's This Week, Ted Cruz praised the "incomparable" Scalia and vowed to filibuster anybody Obama nominates to replace him.

• The tug-of-war for the "ideological soul" of the court is going to drastically change the nature of Obama's final year in office, the New York Times predicts in a look at where the nomination battle lines have been drawn.
• Politico looks at how Scalia's death has split the GOP presidential candidates, with senators taking a more hard-line approach than governors.
• The Washington Post dives into the "chaos, confusion, and conflicting reports" that followed Scalia's death at a West Texas ranch, noting that the judge who deemed his death a natural one did so over the phone without having seen his body.
• The New York Times looks at the remote ranch that Scalia was visiting, calling it a "rugged oasis" that has long attracted politicians and celebrities seeking peace and quiet.
• Anybody who thinks people with opposing political views can't be friends could learn a lot from the Supreme Court's most liberal and most conservative justices, Vox reports in a look at the close friendship between Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

(More Antonin Scalia stories.)