I think that BHO will be looking really closely at Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. It was interesting listening to Pat Buchanan yesterday ask essentially, if BHO will go for merit (read straight white guy) or identity (read everybody else). It was quite tiresome to watch him present his point as though the two are mutually exclusive, as though there really is no way for a woman or a minority of any sort to ever qualify based on merit. Justice Thomas, of course, receives a pass, because his point of view is painfully similar to Buchanan's.
Buchanan on Hardball
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
I am perfectly comfortable saying that it is definitely time for an Hispanic to be named to the SCOTUS (this could be his moment, like Johnson's with his naming Thurgood Marshall). Someone like Judge Sotomayor will have a perspective from which the SCOTUS will benefit, and she will fall squarely into BHO's call for someone who has a brilliant legal mind, but who will also have the ability to look beyond just legal theories in his/her understanding of the Constitution. Though many conservatives seem unwilling to admit it, one's personal perspective does indeed inform one's approach to judicial decision making (read any dissent regarding gay rights issues from Scalia).
I think that BHO will have another shot at shaping the Court before his time is done. It is wonderful that we will have the benefit of a POTUS who understands intimately the benefit of diversity. Our country, in the end, will be better for it.
1 comment:
I agree with you on all counts Free, as usual. (Someday you got to write something I can argue with you about.)
It does strike me as funny that a guy like Souter is described as a "liberal." Well yeah, I guess by the standards of a Scalia or Thomas he seems liberal, but that's like saying that compared to Michelle Bachman, Pat Buchanan seems sane. We're setting the bar pretty low here.
By the way, if President Obama was to come up with a right wing Hispanic female for the Court, Pat would be gushing with praise about the selection being based on "merit."
Post a Comment