12 Mar The Short Version: Supreme Court Nomination

Justice Antonin Scalia died February 13. Almost immediately a firestorm erupted around his replacement and the timing of same. Please scroll down for more on the “Supreme Court Nomination” from the deeply informed, deeply insightful Cleo Abram, writing in this week’s “The Short Version,” her regular blog.

Cleo Constantine Abram of the “The Short Version,” offering densely packed spins on issues of national and global importance.

What’s happening?

The day Justice Antonin Scalia died, February 13, marked the beginning of what may become the most contentious, high-stakes Supreme Court nomination processes in history.

Justice Scalia was a uniquely controversial and influential member of the Supreme Court. In particular, he promoted originalism, a way of interpreting the Constitution that seeks to understand the original meaning of the text at the time it was written. Although his views were controversial, his intellect was revered even by those who opposed him. His dear friend and polar political opposite, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is among the many who grieve his loss.

Based on the Constitutional requirement of “advice and consent,” a new justice will be nominated by the President, go through hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee and face vote before the full Senate—if the current Republican Senate leadership allows.

Why is it important?

The fight to replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court will get ugly, and will shine a spotlight of the political fault lines of this election cycle.

The Senate is controlled by Republican legislators 54 to 46. In other words, for Senate Democrats to appoint President Obama’s nominee, they will need the support of at least 4 Senate Republicans. But within hours of Justice Scalia’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged not to hold hearings, schedule a vote, or meet with President Obama’s nominee.

Continue reading here.

Why “The Short Version” on TIO:

Eight years ago, Telluride Inside…and Out began as a lifestyle webzine. Today, in the full knowledge that Telluride is a window on the world, we continue to bring the “zazz” (short for “pizzazz) of the region to a local, national, and global audience by covering everything from Telluride’s robust cultural economy – major events and festivals – to health and fitness and outdoor adventure. When Telluride travels, we write about places to go, people to meet too. (That’s part of the “Out” part of our handle, the other, obviously, Outdoors.)

And now, this new weekly column, “The Short Version,” which offers simple summaries of issues of national and global importance. (Though we won’t go political, or rather we won’t show bias in the upcoming election.)

“The Short Version” is written by Cleo Constantine Abram, the daughter of Telluride locals Eleni Constantine and Jonathan Abram (and therefore an honorary local and regular visitor) and a digital strategist at Precision Strategies, a political consulting firm.

Why “The Short Version”? Because, though we live in Shangri-La, our bubble is not impermeable and the rest of the world is only a click away. Because there is no inconsequential action; only consequential inaction. And because information is power in a moment so many of us are feeling powerless.

More about Cleo Constantine Abram:

Cleo grew up in Washington D.C., lives in New York City, and loves to visit her parents in Telluride. She authors “The Short Version,” a newsletter that explains each week’s most important issue and both sides of the debate around it.

Cleo is a digital strategist at Precision Strategies, a political consulting firm born of the Obama 2012 presidential campaign.

Cleo’s work focuses on ways to share, educate, and inform using online platforms. While in college at Columbia University, she guided the school’s entrance into online education through her role as the youngest elected representative to the Columbia Senate, which makes university-wide policy.

She continued her work on online education at TED-Ed, the educational branch of the nonprofit, building new programs and online tools to support high school teachers worldwide.

Continuing her work with TED, Cleo founded and led an early TEDx conference, the organization’s community-specific series.

Most importantly, Cleo loves to ski!