And The Next Nominee for SCOTUS Is...

[rah]

Roberts wasn't burned at the stake, true.
But he's never been a judge either and many thought that made him not qualified.

That's what it's come down to.

[Sava]

Originally posted by rah
But he's never been a judge either and many thought that made him not qualified.

he was an appellate court judge for 2 years, IIRC

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by rah
Roberts wasn't burned at the stake, true.

Don't back away from that statement. Roberts for all his qualifications was essentially put through the wringer publicly and smeared publicly/privately. Evidence of the extent to which the Senate is now dysfunctional.

[Imran Siddiqui]

But he's never been a judge either and many thought that made him not qualified.

Sava is correct. He was an appellate judge before his nomination. Also he clerked for Justice Rehnquist and went to a top tier law school.

Who thought he wasn't qualified?

regarding Roberts it went what 77 to 23.

So? Rehnquist, who also had very good qualifications was confirmed by LESS back in the 70s, where you didn't have all this bleating that this process has gotten all politically (blah blah).

Plus you got all those nice rumors flying about him being gay, a racist, and a misogynistic bastard. Not exactly befitting the house of deliberative process if you get my drift.

There were rumors he was gay? Some of the statements he had said in the past were very questionable in how he saw women. He doesn't get a free pass on that.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Roberts for all his qualifications was essentially put through the wringer publicly and smeared publicly/privately.

Please, stop drinking the Republican Kool-aid. The Roberts nomination went very smoothly and there was hardly any 'wringer' stuff at all. He had made questionable comments and was asked to explain.

Ginsburg had to answer questions for about as long when she came up for nomination. There wasn't any record of her saying wierd stuff in the past (and Clinton vetted the pick through Orrin Hatch before he put her up for nomation).

[Sava]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

Sava is correct.

QFT!

[Ben Kenobi]

If Jesus returned, the right wingers would call him a communist.

Yeah, I guess that makes me a communist too, eh sava?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Frankly, you are not like Jesus, Ben .

One of the reasons I dislike the major monotheistic religions. At their core, they are very socialist. Especially the teachings of Jesus. He lived like a poor man and gave all he had.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by rah




But I too worry if this sets precedence for submitting candidates without a lot of judicial experience so there's no food for the vultures.

I liked the "West Wing" approach. Faced with two vacancies ( and a Republican congress IIRC) he made a compromise deal where he avoided yet another moderate in favour of an extremely vocal liberal and an extremely vocal conservative. They actually had some good lines in the show about the fact that the "centre" would be adequately epresented by the other 7.

On something like the SCOTUS, I can see the value of having at least one strong liberal and conservative views

[rah]

That will be a thing of the past if the current trend continues. But since I like my top court near the middle, I wonder if it's that bad of a thing.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

So? Rehnquist, who also had very good qualifications was confirmed by LESS back in the 70s, where you didn't have all this bleating that this process has gotten all politically (blah blah).

Rehnquist was quoted as being the most qualified ever?

Regardless are you implying this is simply then partisan for all time wherein perfectly qualified but conservative judges nominees have to go through this process whilst the likes of Ginsberg get a free pass without a single nay vote.

Plus you got all those nice rumors flying about him being gay, a racist, and a misogynistic bastard. Not exactly befitting the house of deliberative process if you get my drift.

There were rumors he was gay? Some of the statements he had said in the past were very questionable in how he saw women. He doesn't get a free pass on that.

Yep rumors abounded he was gay and wife and kids were his beard. Fact of the matter was there was some intimation that his kids were adopted to add to the cover story.

[Ramo]

Regardless are you implying this is simply then partisan for all time wherein perfectly qualified but conservative judges nominees have to go through this process whilst the likes of Ginsberg get a free pass without a single nay vote.

Ginsburg was specifically recommend by the ranking GOP member of Judiary, Hatch (so was Breyer). Ginsburg spent a long time on the Bench, so had very well known views.

Shrub didn't consult with Leahy (or any of the Senate Dems) over Roberts. And Roberts' views were not well known, and he avoided fully answering questions at the Confirmation; even Specter called him on being misleading. Incidentally, Ginsburg had three nays (and Breyer had nine).

I don't see how it's so unusually partisan when a Republican stealth nominee gets confirmed with half of the Democratic votes in the Senate.

[Ramo]

From Hatch:

[It] was not a surprise when the President called to talk about the appointment and what he was thinking of doing.

President Clinton indicated he was leaning toward nominating Bruce Babbitt, his Secretary of the Interior, a name that had been bouncing around in the press. Bruce, a well-known western Democrat, had been the governor of Arizona and a candidate for president in 1988. Although he had been a state attorney general back during the 1970s, he was known far more for his activities as a politician than as a jurist. Clinton asked for my reaction.

I told him that confirmation would not be easy. At least one Democrat would probably vote against Bruce, and there would be a great deal of resistance from the Republican side. I explained to the President that although he might prevail in the end, he should consider whether he wanted a tough, political battle over his first appointment to the Court.

Our conversation moved to other potential candidates. I asked whether he had considered Judge Stephen Breyer of the First Circuit Court of Appeals or Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. President Clinton indicated he had heard Breyer's name but had not thought about Judge Ginsberg.

I indicated I thought they would be confirmed easily. I knew them both and believed that, while liberal, they were highly honest and capable jurists and their confirmation would not embarrass the President. From my perspective, they were far better than the other likely candidates from a liberal Democrat administration.

In the end, the President did not select Secretary Babbitt. Instead, he nominated Judge Ginsburg and Judge Breyer a year later, when Harry Blackmun retired from the Court. Both were confirmed with relative ease.

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/07/01/how-clinton-treated-hatch/

[Sava]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Frankly, you are not like Jesus, Ben .

One of the reasons I dislike the major monotheistic religions. At their core, they are very socialist. Especially the teachings of Jesus. He lived like a poor man and gave all he had.

yeah being a good person and helping others really sucks doesn't it!

we need a religion where you can exploit everyone and live like a king

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Sava
Geoffrey R. Stone is a professor of law at the University of Chicago and the author of "Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism."

University of Chicago