On the night of February 12, 2016 Associate Justice Antonin Scalia passed away in his sleep leaving a vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States. I write this post 11 months after this event, while Barack Obama is still President and Trump only President-Elect. Yet, there is still a vacancy on the Supreme Court.

In the weeks following Scalia's death, indications were that the Senate would not vote on any nominee put forth by President Obama. Naively, I thought this was merely political posturing and chest-beating that occurs any time a legislative member has an opportunity for air time. Surely, I thought, that the President still has nearly a year in office is the only relevant factor here with respect to putting forth a nominee for vote. Surely, I thought, "lame duck" status cannot extend this far into a term. One-quarter of a term. Not the period after election but prior to inauguration, the typical (as I understand it) time frame of fowl with a bum kicker. An entire year.

That I sit here on January 12, 2017 with nary a vote on Obama's nominee (Merrick Garland) is frightening. I don't claim to want to understand the bullshit posturing that elected officials relish. Power of that degree is not exciting to me. Right or wrong, I've come to expect it and I fully admit I let it happen. I've a sort of expectation, however, that work actually gets done by elected officials during flaccid moments. Argue, primp, get your TV time, vote fiend all you want - what makes sense to me is that you do the legislative work.

So, it's utterly confusing to me that this vacancy can still exist. CLEARLY, with one year remaining in a President's term, a nominee vote should occur. I don't believe there is an argument that can be put forth that is sufficient for me to accept the current vacant state. It's utterly illogical. It's insane. It's the point at which any confidence I had in the system (trite as it sounds) was totally removed.

I'm left with a dilemma. No confidence in a system that I can't bring down, nor do I have such revolutionary thoughts. Yet unaccepting of anything such a system produces. It's worrisome. Thankfully my daily life does not typically include status checks on the system. There are Catch-22s all over this for me. I don't know what to do, in the most apolitical sense possible. Note I've given no indication of my political leanings because such views have nothing to do with this.

I just don't understand.