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The Advice and Consent Process

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One lesson that emerges from Clarence Thomas’ Senate experience is an ominous warning to all potential candidates for the court: Think carefully before you put into public words and written form any ideas or opinions that might at some future time serve as ammunition in the hands of hostile congressional critics.

The politicization of the Senate power of advice and consent will tend to inhibit candor and intellectual creativity among those young men and women whose destinies may bring them to questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Are we facing a future in which our Supreme Court will be populated by political eunuchs?

SIDNEY BALDWIN, Cypress

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