Late Night Roundup: Colbert Salutes Scalia — Really

Stephen Colbert paid a personal tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, as a guy with a fun sense of humor — one of the few VIP’s in Washington to actually laugh at his routine during the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, when he mercilessly raked the entire D.C. establishment (including Scalia) over the coals. And not only that, Scalia even yucked it up with him afterwards.

“I will forever be grateful for that moment of human contact that he gave me,” Stephen declared. “And so I’d just like to say one last time: Justice Scalia, I salute you” — making the same obscene Italian gesture that Scalia loved so much.

Samantha Bee took on Republicans’ invocation of the so-called “Thurmond Rule” — which is not any kind of legal rule. “Now look, I’m sure that Strom Thurmond is smiling up from Hell, knowing that a rule named after him might prevent the black president from doing his job,” Bee said bluntly. “But filling court vacancies is one of only three jobs a president actually has: Appointing justices, bombing the @#$% out of the Middle East, and turkey pardonings — that’s it!”

Seth Meyers ripped into Senate Republicans like Marco Rubio, insisting that they won’t even lift a finger to consider a Supreme Court nominee from President Obama. “Yes, interpret the Constitution as it was originally meant — except for the part that says, “The president shall nominate judges of the Supreme Court.’ Everyone knows that part was supposed to be sarcastic — which is why the Founders followed it with the shrug emoji.”