WATCH: GOP Block of High Court Appointment a Potential Crisis, Says Rachel Maddow

The sudden death Saturday of noted antigay Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has left a spot on America's highest judicial body open, and Republicans in the Senate are wasting no time in promising to effectively block whoever President Obama plans to nominate for the seat. And Rachel Maddow isn't too happy about that.

On her show Monday night, the out MSNBC host and political commentator dissected all she finds wrong with the way GOP senators, particularly Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, say they plan to prevent the president from appointing a new justice to the high court.

"There are now eight justices on the United States Supreme Court, which requires nine justices, and we suddenly -- in the midst of what is already a chaotic political season -- have bumbled into what appears to be not yet a constitutional crisis, but right now a giant stress test for our democracy," Maddow said. "We haven't had a Supreme Court seat held open for a year in this country since the U.S. Civil War. And the reason we had one held over then was because of the U.S. Civil War. What's the excuse now?"

Watch the clip from Maddow's show below.