After all, wasn’t Bill supposed to appoint Hillary?
<
p>BTW – what IS Clinton’s legal status now? Wasn’t he disbarred in AK? CAN a disbarred attorney serve? Or is it like the Pope – you don’t have to be a Cardinal, just a Catholic?
christophersays
…his license to practice was suspended for five years, which time has since expired. As far as I know there is no legal requirement that you be an attorney at all.
<
p>As for the Papacy, who knows? They believe the Holy Spirit guides their choice and the Lord works in mysterious ways.
is already under active discussion in this front-page thread, and I’m reluctant to start another one at this point. I noted the possibility of Sandra Lynch in my promotion comment. Larry Tribe (WAY too old at 67) and Anita Hill (heh) are also discussed in that thread.
amberpawsays
Notice not one vote for gender or race?
kbuschsays
Shaking my head to see what things rattle out, I found these in my lap:
Ideology.
Firmness of convictions.
Ability to sway Justice Kennedy.
Health, youth, longevity.
davessays
Yes, he is older. He also would be a powerful force to counter the faux intellectualism of Justice Scalia, and would overpower the latest lightweight conservative, Alito. I think he would be a brilliant and historic justice.
Scalia isn’t long for the Court — my prediction (you heard it here first) is that, even barring any health issues, he will wait out Obama’s first term but not his second. And Alito is 12 years younger than Tribe, so Alito is likely to be there longer.
<
p>There are lots of smart lefties who aren’t pushing 70.
frankskeffingtonsays
…that is worthy of a post itself…care to expand a little here?
Basically, Scalia is 73. If Obama is reelected in 2012 and Scalia waits to retire until Obama is out of office, he’ll be almost 81 (and even then, maybe Obama will be succeeded by another Democrat). My guess — and it’s really not much more than that — is that Scalia doesn’t want to die on the Court. Rather, I think that Scalia is somewhat bored and frustrated with the job (having failed to achieve the conservative revolution he had hoped for, something for which there is now zero possibility in his lifetime), and I think he wants to have time to write, teach, lecture, and visit his kids and grandkids while he still can. So I just think it’s unlikely that Scalia will stick around if Obama is reelected.
christophersays
Elsewhere I’ve noted that I want the most brilliant legal minds on the Court. Tribe is a perfect example of my criteria. He is a member of the legal community who has already developed such a reputation that his name is well-known. That is what I’m getting at. I want someone whose name recognition and presitige is already such that jurists and possibly the people at large would react by thinking that of course this person is the obvious choice for the highest court in the land.
It’s just common practice, and I mentioned it by way of explaining why I wasn’t promoting this one.
amberpawsays
Which is a different matter than why or when Souter is stepping down, or whether or who is interested in becomming a USSCT Justice. I remain interested in terms of “prevetting” the actual qualities and concerns and find that the discussion at this post is quite different than the front page post – and on the whole, I consider that to be useful.
<
p>Your editorial discretion as to which posts to “promote” is also not something I feel at all critical of; you do it well. And whether or not a post, esp. one like this which is a request for other’s opinions and not a column, and not direct reporting is promoted is not as important as whether the question raised is pondered.
Bill Clinton
Michelle Obama
<
p>Neither is all that likely of course, but it would definitely make things interesting.
She is currently the chief of the First Circuit Federal Court of Appeals: http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/ju…
<
p>I have not followed her careet closely, but what I do know is such that I would consider her a contender.
Talk about interesting….
justice would finally be served.
After all, wasn’t Bill supposed to appoint Hillary?
<
p>BTW – what IS Clinton’s legal status now? Wasn’t he disbarred in AK? CAN a disbarred attorney serve? Or is it like the Pope – you don’t have to be a Cardinal, just a Catholic?
…his license to practice was suspended for five years, which time has since expired. As far as I know there is no legal requirement that you be an attorney at all.
<
p>As for the Papacy, who knows? They believe the Holy Spirit guides their choice and the Lord works in mysterious ways.
But he probably knows too much.
is already under active discussion in this front-page thread, and I’m reluctant to start another one at this point. I noted the possibility of Sandra Lynch in my promotion comment. Larry Tribe (WAY too old at 67) and Anita Hill (heh) are also discussed in that thread.
Notice not one vote for gender or race?
Shaking my head to see what things rattle out, I found these in my lap:
Ideology.
Firmness of convictions.
Ability to sway Justice Kennedy.
Health, youth, longevity.
Yes, he is older. He also would be a powerful force to counter the faux intellectualism of Justice Scalia, and would overpower the latest lightweight conservative, Alito. I think he would be a brilliant and historic justice.
Scalia isn’t long for the Court — my prediction (you heard it here first) is that, even barring any health issues, he will wait out Obama’s first term but not his second. And Alito is 12 years younger than Tribe, so Alito is likely to be there longer.
<
p>There are lots of smart lefties who aren’t pushing 70.
…that is worthy of a post itself…care to expand a little here?
Basically, Scalia is 73. If Obama is reelected in 2012 and Scalia waits to retire until Obama is out of office, he’ll be almost 81 (and even then, maybe Obama will be succeeded by another Democrat). My guess — and it’s really not much more than that — is that Scalia doesn’t want to die on the Court. Rather, I think that Scalia is somewhat bored and frustrated with the job (having failed to achieve the conservative revolution he had hoped for, something for which there is now zero possibility in his lifetime), and I think he wants to have time to write, teach, lecture, and visit his kids and grandkids while he still can. So I just think it’s unlikely that Scalia will stick around if Obama is reelected.
Elsewhere I’ve noted that I want the most brilliant legal minds on the Court. Tribe is a perfect example of my criteria. He is a member of the legal community who has already developed such a reputation that his name is well-known. That is what I’m getting at. I want someone whose name recognition and presitige is already such that jurists and possibly the people at large would react by thinking that of course this person is the obvious choice for the highest court in the land.
It’s just common practice, and I mentioned it by way of explaining why I wasn’t promoting this one.
Which is a different matter than why or when Souter is stepping down, or whether or who is interested in becomming a USSCT Justice. I remain interested in terms of “prevetting” the actual qualities and concerns and find that the discussion at this post is quite different than the front page post – and on the whole, I consider that to be useful.
<
p>Your editorial discretion as to which posts to “promote” is also not something I feel at all critical of; you do it well. And whether or not a post, esp. one like this which is a request for other’s opinions and not a column, and not direct reporting is promoted is not as important as whether the question raised is pondered.
Federal Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
Among many other reasons, she has a background in criminal law, something no member of the Court has.