The death of Justice Antonin Scalia has thrown the Supreme Court into the middle of the 2016 election cycle.
With Republicans in the Senate promising to block any nomination made by President Barack Obama, the upcoming presidential election and several major Senate elections are taking on a new dimension. Key races in Florida, Illinois, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will determine whether Republicans can maintain their four-seat majority in Congress' upper chamber.
Matt Kittle and Eric Boehm sit down to chat about Scalia's monumental contributions to the Court -- in terms of legal history and pure entertainment -- and to look ahead at how his death will shape this year's elections. In case you need more evidence that we're witnessing a historical election, consider this: it's the first presidential election year since 1916 in which a sitting SCOTUS justice has passed away.
As for the presidential election, Jeb Bush's campaign is looking less and less viable in the days leading up to the South Carolina primary election on Saturday. In a state where the Bush dynasty has long, strong ties, he's polling way, way behind the leaders. Is it time for him to shut it down?
Then, Mark Lisheron, a senior reporter for Watchdog, sits down with Boehm to talk about the folly of high-speed rail in his home state of Texas. Officials there have been trying, unsuccessfully, to build a rail line between Houston and Dallas for decades.
All that, plus our Nanny State of the Week and Picks of the Litter, on this edition of the Watchdog Podcast.