“In about three and a half months, we’ll make a decision about who occupies the executive branch, what party controls the Senate, and growing out of those two decisions will be the future of the United States Supreme Court,” the former governor told attendees. “And my friends, a lot of average citizens out there don’t understand the importance of that court.

“I mean, the death of Scalia saved labor from a terrible decision,” Strickland said to cheers, with laughter soon filling the room as he made the joke. “And I don’t wish anyone ill, but it happened at a good time because once that decision had been made, it would have been tough to reverse it.”