EXTRA
Fixing Justice
Want to get better justices? Look beyond the bench.
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As the next president searches for a justice, he or she would do well to start far away from the bench.
It has become the pattern in recent years to search for justices exclusively among professional judges, generally in the federal appellate courts. That's a natural concession to the politics of confirmation--federal judges have records that are easily scoured for ideological purity, and they've already been confirmed at least once. But the result has been a narrowing of the Supreme Court's range of experience and an increasing irrelevance of the court in the larger field of national government. Today, not a single sitting justice came to bench with any experience in elected political office (Sandra Day O'Connor was the last justice to have come to her position with that in her background).
It has become the pattern in recent years to search for justices exclusively among professional judges, generally in the federal appellate courts. That's a natural concession to the politics of confirmation--federal judges have records that are easily scoured for ideological purity, and they've already been confirmed at least once. But the result has been a narrowing of the Supreme Court's range of experience and an increasing irrelevance of the court in the larger field of national government. Today, not a single sitting justice came to bench with any experience in elected political office (Sandra Day O'Connor was the last justice to have come to her position with that in her background).
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Discussion Where should the president start looking for the next Supreme Court justice? Discuss today's Extra. Comments will close after two weeks.
1. Did you see Scalia on 60 minutes? Is he scary or what? And to think he will be around for life. Hello? "Torture is not cruel and unusual punishment, because you can't punish for something you haven't learned yet" Could we change the name to cruel and unsual TREATMENT? By any name it is inhuman. And he is the best of the best. NO NO NO
Submitted by: Ruth Wessels 11:46 AM PDT, May 2, 2008 Submitted by: Michael White 4:11 PM PDT, Apr 30, 2008 Submitted by: phil 6:41 AM PDT, Apr 30, 2008 |
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