The Supreme Court Short List:
Jan Crawford Greenburg reports that the White House has a short list of candidates to replace Justice Souter on the Supreme Court. According to Greenburg, the White House has asked six individuals to submit information for vetting, "which is being run outside the White House," but only three -- Diane Wood, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor -- are identified by name. Most interesting is Greenburg's coverage of the internal debate over the nomination, over whether to seek political advantage or identify the nominee with greatest potential impact on the Court, whether to play it safe or whether to save a safer candidate for a subsequent nomination later in the term. Interesting stuff.
Are they perhaps waiting for the Senate to be out so you don't have an incident similar to Teddy Kennedy's rush to the Senate floor to condemn Judge Bork with his nonsense about segregated lunch counters? Will Sen. Sessions come to the floor to attack the nominee?
Nick
Works. James Madison is qualified.
Madison was a badass, even though that dude was SHORT. He was like a jockey for crying out loud. Weighed 100 pounds. But he punched above his weight when it came to limited government!!
I wouldn't be shocked if some of the liberal leaning justices have been waiting for a while to retire. historically, there's a desire not to swamp the administration with multiple nominees so the justices may talk among themselves as to the order. Ginsburg and/or Stevens may already be planning to retire before the next presidential election.
www.optoons.blogspot.com
Thanks for the early heads up on what to expect from your comment.
If it comes down to Kagan or anybody, please pick Kagan.
According to Greenburg's own book, worse. She points out that Reagan nominated Scalia with a R senate and Bork with a D senate. Had they been reversed, Scalia would still have sailed through a D senate (unanimous in R senate) and Bork would have had an easier time with a R senate.
Considering there are 59 or 60 Ds in the Senate now, the margin is unlikely to get significantly larger, same goes for Obama's approval rating. When Bork was nominated , Reagan's approval was tanking.
James Madison was puny
James Madison was small
He built a Constitution
Ten Constellations tall
We wake the better mornings
And we sleep the better nights
For Jimmy's Constitution
And Jimmy's Bill Of Rights
--Willard Espy
Just by way of counterpoint, there is value in saying that you are appointing someone whose views are close to the Justice that you are replacing. If he appoints a far-liberal now, R's will complain that he's changing the balance by appointing a far-left to replace a moderate left. In contrast, if he appoints a far lefty to replace RBG, no one will be able to make that claim -- at worst, it leaves the court exactly where it was.
No.
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