Being down one Justice will not through the nation into the pits of hell. Jeez Louise—don’t the teach anything anymore? In case of an equal split it goes to whatever the last lower court ruled.
Yeah, the liberal media and the democrats are going to play this up like its the end of democracy (probably with one of those countdown clocks to judicial Armageddon on the nightly news) if Obama's nominee isn't rushed through (even though it typically takes 3 or 4 months even with the normal nomination process). What most people don't realize is that the Supreme Court can and does operate quite normally with 8 members (and in the past even 7 or 6). Nothing that could happen with 9 can't happen with 8 except I suppose the chance for a tie vote increases, which just upholds the lower courts ruling on the issue at hand.