breaking news this morning, the death of justice anton antonin scalia. he is the leading conservative voice and republican primary contenders had a rare moment of agreement.

>> this is a tremendous blow to conservativism. a tremendous blow, frankly to our country. >> the loss is tremendous. i do not believe the president should appoint someone. and it's not unprecedented. it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has elected a supreme court justice. >> i think the next president of the united states should decide who will get that vote. >> democrats also quickly responded. >> i know that our thoughts and prayers are with the scalia family tonight. and i'm also thinking and praying for the future of our country. i very much hope that president obama will put forth a strong nominee, and that we can get that nominee confirmed as

soon as possible. more on that political reaction in a moment. first, new details on the death of antonin scalia. he was found saturday morning after he did not appear for breakfast while he was on vacation. president obama spoke late last night about the death. he spoke about scalia life and finding a successor. >> my plans to fulfill my constitutional duties to find a successor. there will be plenty of time for me to do so and for the senate to fulfill their responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote. >> mitch mcconnell said the

american people should a violence in the selection of their next supreme court justice. pete williams tells us about the career of justice scalia. >> i do solemnly wear. >> the first italian-american justice put on the supreme court in 1986 by ronald reagan. he was confirmed unanimously 98-0 after he said he had no plans to reshape the law. >> i'm not going on to the court with a list of things i want to do. >> once there, scalia was one of the most outspoken conserve testify aens a insteadfast o poenltt -- opponent of things like abortion. >> no one ever thought they were included in the right.

>> scalia said they should be boundly the laws that interpret. >> we're governed by laws, it's not what drafter intended but what drafter enacted. >> unsympathetic to criminal suspects, he expanded the rights of defendants to confront their accusers in court. and he wrote a book that said the individual's right to hold a firearm. scalia was an advocate for conservative causes off of the bench, too. helping encourage the federalist society. >> mr. justice scalia and his wife, maureen. >> he met his wife on a blind

date in college. two of his children became lawyers. >> i like thinking about the law, figuring out the right answer to the problems. and you know, sort of top of the heap for a lower that has those interests. >> and he game one of the most influential justices in the court's history. we're joined now live from washington. first, his impact on the court, what is it? >> the course has been divided five to four, and with his vacancy now, it means a 4-4 division on many of the questions that the court has to deal with. if they reach ad 4-4 tie on the cases that are pending, it would not count into, for example, if you look at the cases that are

yet to be decided, president obama's immigration policy, that was basically put on hold by the lower courts. public sector unions prevailed. so it could mean that those questions will be put off to be ultimately resolved for another year. in terms of their influence on the court, it was huge. because he really pushed the court more toward a conservative direction, more toward an originalist drebl isist directi talked about in the piece you just saw. >> the president can act when ever he wants. there is now a vacancy so the president has the authority to apoint someone that he wants to succeed justice scalia. there is no time limit for that. the average is 67 days, but i

have a hunch it will be longer than that given the current climate. the senate doesn't have to act at all if they choose not to. so we get into a political question about when the president acts and what the senate will do. >> is there a precedent where a president in his final year of one party gets a nominee of another party? >> i don't think historical presidents matter, and here is why. there has been 16 vacancies in a presidential election year, only four since the 1900s, it is really since the last 30 years or so that the whole tanner of supreme court nominations changed in two ways. number one now the white house more carefully vets nominees. scrubs their backgrounds so

thoroughly. makes sure they're where the president wants them be. that is one thing. and like i said, he was squirmed -- confirmed 98-0. >> are there any obvious candidates for the nomination? >> i don't think so. undoubtedly the white house has a file somewhere that would have potential nominees if there was a vacancy. that would be the prudent thing to do. but i think now the calculation of what a supreme court nominee should be for the white house can be very different given this climate. they're saying we don't want to confirm anything until the election is over in november. >> and you have been covering the supreme court for many years, what will be your lasting

memory of justice scalia? >> it has not really sunk in for me. he is the longest serving justice. he has been there since i started coffvering the court. his presence in the courtroom was so big. he was a courtly figure. i mean not in the legal sense, but in the gentlemanly old fashioned mannered sort of sense. he also had a great sense of humor. he was a larger than life figure. and so off happens in our history. it could be hard to adjust. that is the history of the supreme court, is change. and we're seeing it now again. >> pete williams, thank you for weighing in on this.

>> as we mentioned he was found dead saturday morning while on vacation at a texas ranch. and jay is outside of the ranch where he died. what can you tell us about what happened? >> hey, we are learning more. he travelled to this tran much on friday. he attended a party with about 40 guests. he didn't show up for breakfast the next day. staff went to his room and he was found unresponsive. investigators say there are no signs of foul play here, and it appears the justice died of natural causes. his body was moved to alpine,

texas. and then to el paso. we're told his family will move to el paso today. the family expected to be in texas later today. >> thank you for that. we'll be checking back with you later in the day. >> in a moment, the far reaching implications of this on the presidential campaign. what the candidates are saying about president obama's power to nominate a successor. >> it's a matter of principal. >> you're probably worse than jeb bush. you're the single biggest liar. about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage.

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. >> flags lowers to half-staff because of the death of antonin scalia. he was found dead at a texas ranch on saturday morning. he was 7 yea9 years old. and republicans have said the next president should choose the next justice. >> it appear that's some of my republican colleagues in the senate have a very interesting view of the constitution of the united states. and apparently they believe that the constitution does not allow a democratic president to bring

forth a nominee to replace justice scalia. i strongly disagree with that. >> elections have consequences. the president has a responsibility to nomination a new justice and the senate has a responsibility to vote. the longest successful confirmation process in the last four decades was clarence thomas and that took roughly 100 days. there are 340 in the next president takes office, so that is plenty of time. >> and during last night's debate, candidates weighed in on his legacy and argued why president obama should not appoint a replacement before he leaves the oval office. >> we have fantastic people, but this is a tremendous blow to

conservativism and frankly to our country. >> our hearts and prayers go out to his family. i do not believe he should appoint someone, and it has been over 80 years. >> i believe the president should not move forward, and i think that we ought to let the next president of the united states decide who will run that supreme court with a vote by the people of the united states of america. >> justice scalia was a legal giant. he was someone that i knew for 20 years. he was brilliant. he changed the arch of american legal history. >> let's bring in vaughn hilliard. who do you think won the night? >> it was interesting, this debate was a ted cruz versus

donald trump. the gloves could come off like in iowa. they called it an important state to pull off throughout the south, they're able to really move on and be a true factor in this. it was marco rubio verse ted cruz, and donald trump took on jeb bush. and on immigration, he called jeb bush the softest on the stage. it was interesting. they were relitigated immigration. i don't know if anyone necessarily won. everyone took their dings. john kasich said he is the common sense conservative. so everybody came out with their dings, i don't think there was a

clear cut favorite coming out. >> donald trump was building a reality tv show, my brother built a security apparatus to keep us safe, i'm proud of what he did. >> the world trade center came down, remember that. >> it seems to matter what he says or does, his supporters stick with him, did he cross lines with that exchange last night? >> it was a stretch, even marco rubio stepped in, for the jeb bush moment of defending his family, he said i would rather have george w. bush be president than al zoer, so when you have marco rubio stepping in in

defense of the bush family on stage, perhaps trump took it to another level, but nothing seems to deter the donald supporters to too large of a degree. you may hear boos, but that's not uncommon. >> and what about the ground game. there is word in south carolina. does any candidate clearly have the best operation there? >> ted cruz's operation is the best operation. this is a place they moved a lot of their iowa operation out here. this is a campaign that was looking long term, not just a iowa victory. what we saw, before, they didn't have much of a plan coming out of those states, but they

brought their iowa state director out here, the iowa volunteers have flown out here are and staying out here. it is really a path towards turning out unprecedented numbers here. >> is there a consensus on how many will punch their ticket, and who is the likeliest to fall away? >> it seems like there are two. but really, it seems like we have two races going on. jeb bush and john chakasich, an then you have ted cruz and donald trump. after next saturday, this is going to clamp down. i don't know if anyone will drop out before florida seeing that there are openings along the way. in terms of the insight we're

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don't settle for u-verse. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. i am dara brown in new york. the democrats are back in nevada. vegas to be exact. the next state on the democratic election calendar with a caucus six days from now. hillary clinton and bernie sanders were in spreparate part of the state yesterday before going to colorado for the an yum democratic dinner. i believe that on super tuesday, people will be very,

very surprised about election results here in colorado. >> when you go to caucus on march 1st. ask yourself who can you count on to break down every barrier, not just some. on the republican side, only two candidates are out campaigning. they're events come less than 24 hours after the debate in greenville, south carolina. among the intention personal attacks are the records lie, liar, and lying were used. by the end of the night, it added up to 22 times. here is donald trump. ? you're probably worse than jeb bush, you're the single biggest liar. this guy lied about ben carson. he took votes away from ben carson in iowa. and he just continues. today we had robo calls saying donald trump is not going to run in south carolina where i'm

leading by a lot. vote for for ted cruz. this is the same thing he did to ben carson. he will say anything. nasty guy. >> that will do it for me this morning, i'm dara brown in new york at the msnbc headquarters "your business" is next.sa moneyg his motorcycle insurance to geico. there's no shame in saving money. ride on, ride proud. geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides.

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