TC
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Post by TC on Apr 10, 2010 8:05:49 GMT -5
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Post by jerseyhoya34 on Apr 10, 2010 14:19:33 GMT -5
The following is an impressive analysis of the rumored candidates: www.tnr.com/article/politics/the-next-justice?page=0,0 I'd throw out another long-shot candidate - Ann Claire Williams of the 7th Circuit. Reading her bio, it appears to check all the boxes, although her work to expand opportunities for African-Americans and field work for rule of law initiatives in Africa may raise red flags in some circles.
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Post by jerseyhoya34 on Apr 12, 2010 15:46:30 GMT -5
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Post by jerseyhoya34 on Apr 21, 2010 23:09:34 GMT -5
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Post by jerseyhoya34 on Apr 29, 2010 18:35:02 GMT -5
President Obama and VP Biden both interviewed Judge Thomas of the 9th Circuit today. Max Baucus has been pushing Thomas's "candidacy" and appears to have had some success. Unclear exactly how the interview process is working, as Obama interviewed folks like Judge Wood after Souter retired. www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100429/us-obama-supreme-court/
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kchoya
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Post by kchoya on Apr 29, 2010 19:10:31 GMT -5
President Obama and VP Biden both interviewed Judge Thomas of the 9th Circuit today. Max Baucus has been pushing Thomas's "candidacy" and appears to have had some success. Unclear exactly how the interview process is working, as Obama interviewed folks like Judge Wood after Souter retired. www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100429/us-obama-supreme-court/Thomas is probably more well-known outside of Montana than in the state.
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EasyEd
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Post by EasyEd on Apr 29, 2010 19:12:17 GMT -5
At least Thomas is not Ivy League. Hope he picks a non-Ivy as we need some school diversity on the court.
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Post by redskins12820 on Apr 29, 2010 19:57:34 GMT -5
At least Thomas is not Ivy League. Hope he picks a non-Ivy as we need some school diversity on the court. Yeah, down with smart people!
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Apr 29, 2010 21:57:44 GMT -5
At least Thomas is not Ivy League. Hope he picks a non-Ivy as we need some school diversity on the court. Yeah, down with smart people! So, you're saying all of us who went to Georgetown aren't smart?
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Post by jerseyhoya34 on Apr 29, 2010 23:18:18 GMT -5
My take on the background issue is that law school pedigree does not matter much. If you look at the current court, some justices are at least cognizant of a need for diversity. Justice (Clarence) Thomas has been known to be less than charitable toward purportedly elite law schools or, at least, their mentality. I am also not sure that this attitude is supposed to translate into the law, and I am not sure such a view adds anything meaningful to Thomas's jurisprudence. At best, I can only agree with the idea that law school diversity won't hurt.
I'm more interested in seeing diversity of analytical approach, and elite law schools are somewhat diverse in these regards already. We're missing, I think, justices who are committed to restraint, and, to the extent a "candidate" has shown such tendencies, so much the better. I'd also like to see a movement away from law by labelling that takes place on both sides of the supposed political divide on the Court.
IMO, there are very few justices right now who you can point to and say they are consistently good and rigorous or plain old consistent in terms of how they answer questions.
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Post by jerseyhoya34 on Apr 29, 2010 23:58:49 GMT -5
President Obama and VP Biden both interviewed Judge Thomas of the 9th Circuit today. Max Baucus has been pushing Thomas's "candidacy" and appears to have had some success. Unclear exactly how the interview process is working, as Obama interviewed folks like Judge Wood after Souter retired. www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100429/us-obama-supreme-court/Thomas is probably more well-known outside of Montana than in the state. That may be the case, but perhaps through no fault of his own. His chambers are in Billings.
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Post by redskins12820 on Apr 30, 2010 9:31:24 GMT -5
Yeah, down with smart people! So, you're saying all of us who went to Georgetown aren't smart? Well I hope we're smart enough to figure out that implying that smart people go to Ivies is different from implying that if you don't go to an Ivy, you are not smart (although my prompt is arguably ambiguous)
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Post by jerseyhoya34 on Apr 30, 2010 13:56:56 GMT -5
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Apr 30, 2010 14:07:30 GMT -5
At least Thomas is not Ivy League. Hope he picks a non-Ivy as we need some school diversity on the court. It just seems like the worst case of affirmative action to pick people based on where they went to school. Sorry, you went to Yale, but we really need a Midwest pick for this. It seems but a hop, skip and a jump from this logic to wanting a candidate who listed their favorite basic cable series as Breaking Bad since seven Court members prefer Mad Men.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Apr 30, 2010 14:17:51 GMT -5
I would like to nominate Judge Harm.
(S)he would be the first transgendered justice in Supreme Court history, unless you believe the rumors about Earl Warren.
Besides, Judge Snyder is too soft on crime. Boys will be boys indeed!
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kchoya
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Post by kchoya on Apr 30, 2010 14:51:02 GMT -5
I would like to nominate Judge Harm. (S)he would be the first transgendered justice in Supreme Court history, unless you believe the rumors about Earl Warren. Well, if Duncan Hunter was in the Senate, I'm sure he'd vote against her.
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kchoya
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Post by kchoya on Apr 30, 2010 14:52:00 GMT -5
Thomas is probably more well-known outside of Montana than in the state. That may be the case, but perhaps through no fault of his own. His chambers are in Billings. Not saying it's a positive or negative. Perhaps Obama is looking for a Souter-like unknown who would cause as few ripples as possible.
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Post by redskins12820 on Apr 30, 2010 17:15:07 GMT -5
That may be the case, but perhaps through no fault of his own. His chambers are in Billings. Not saying it's a positive or negative. Perhaps Obama is looking for a Souter-like unknown who would cause as few ripples as possible. If he's politically smart he should push this one. Liberal judge leaving, replace with a liberal one. This is his one chance to go super liberal if he wants to. If any other justice retires, he's going to have a much tougher time getting a big time liberal through. That being said, I don't think he rocks the boat on this one.
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Post by jerseyhoya34 on Apr 30, 2010 17:18:49 GMT -5
An update here from the WSJ - online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704093204575216563672355100.html?mod=WSJ_business_IndustryNews_DLWI am a bit surprised that the Thomas comments were leaked. Does not seem like a smart thing to do, but maybe he feels like his fate is sealed. Liberals cannot seem to agree on a frontrunner here. Kagan is widely unpopular in some circles for her view on executive power, but, in other circles, she's popular for her stance on gay rights. Many seem to like Judge Wood, but she does not get the gay rights support that Kagan gets, but she does get some pro-choice support, whether merited or not. I kind of like this Thomas guy for whatever reason. Seems to check a lot of boxes and does not come with all of the baggage. If there's anything to say about his comments, it is that he comes across as unpretentious. That could be valuable - if I have a complaint about Scalia, it is that he's fairly ostentatious. I don't like a Kagan pick much at all.
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EasyEd
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Post by EasyEd on Apr 30, 2010 18:57:04 GMT -5
At least Thomas is not Ivy League. Hope he picks a non-Ivy as we need some school diversity on the court. It just seems like the worst case of affirmative action to pick people based on where they went to school. Sorry, you went to Yale, but we really need a Midwest pick for this. It seems but a hop, skip and a jump from this logic to wanting a candidate who listed their favorite basic cable series as Breaking Bad since seven Court members prefer Mad Men. I agree. My comment about Ivy Leaguers and the Supreme Court is merely to observe that (I believe) all current members of the Court are Ivy Leaguers and, it seems to me, such a credential appears to have been an unwritten requirement for selecting the judges. Having only Harvard and Yale law grads on the Court means the judicial philosophies on those law schools are the only ones directly impacting our Court decisions.
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