There's a lot of blather (particularly from Cruz and Rubio, but also McConnell and other supposed "conservatives") about there being "precedent" and "tradition" on not appointing/confirming Supreme Court justices in a presidential election year. The fact is, a vacancy just doesn't occur very often; most justices retire or resign, and they've chosen to leave when a president they like is in office, and not in a presidential election year.
Let's use the 80 year time frame put forth by Rubio: 1936-2016. Thirty justices chose to step down; ten died in office. Probability says two (and half) should have died in a year evenly divisible by four. In fact, Scalia is the first SC justice to DIE IN A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR IN 80 YEARS.
Ok, Rubio, Cruz, et al.: it's not precedent or tradition if it JUST HASN'T HAPPENED BEFORE.
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