Qualifications?-According to Republicans, You Just Need to Be a Minority
Thanks to Digby at Hullabaloo for posting the qualifications of President Joe Biden’s pick (Ketanji Brown Jackson) to replace justice Stephen Breyer Justice at SCOTUS.
I’ll (digby) just lay out the qualifications of the presumed front runner for the job: Ketanji Brown Jackson:
Fifty-one year old Ketanji Jackson fulfills a lot of requirements for the establishment set. She has the same Ivy League credentials as the sitting justices, having earned both her undergraduate and her law degree from Harvard and edited for the Harvard Law Review. She clerked for three federal judges—including Breyer, from 1999 to 2000. If nominated and confirmed, Jackson will follow the same track as Brett Kavanaugh, who also clerked for the justice he ultimately replaced. Also like Kavanaugh—and seven other current and former justices—Jackson would be coming directly from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the second-most-important court in the country after the Supreme Court.
But Ketanji Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve on the high court, offering the body a perspective that progressives, in particular, have long wanted to see represented. (Of the 115 justices who have served, all but seven have been white men.)
Jackson also has strayed from the typical route of a Court nominee, which matters a lot to Democrats, who have tended to prioritize experience over ideology. After a few years in private practice, she worked as a federal public defender. Later, she served for four years as the Obama-appointed vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, during which time the commission reduced sentences for many people convicted of drug crimes.
Appointing someone with Jackson’s experience to the Supreme Court “would make quite a statement,” Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice, a progressive group advocating for court reform, told me. “It would signal a new era and a shift away from the decades-long default to former prosecutors and corporate lawyers.”
But then appointee Ketanji Jackson will have to contend with likes of GOP members on the Senate Judiciary Committee: Cruz, Hawley, Cotton, Blackburn and the cornpone twins, Graham and John Kennedy.
“…(Of the 115 justices who have served, all but seven have been white men.)…”
[Yeah, but who could know more about injustice than the white men that serve it up?]
In the NYT links that I posted earlier about potential choices, there was a quote from former GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan about Ketanji Brown Jackson, to whom he is related by marriage, stating that she is ‘amazing’, giving her a glowing endorsement. If that doesn’t bring along some GOP votes, nothing will.
OTOH…
A top Biden ally has a favored candidate to replace Justice Breyer: Judge J. Michelle Childs
NY Times – Jan 27
(Rep Jim Clymer favors Judge Childs, who would meet Biden’s requirement and also – more importantly – be a Justice who did not come from Harvard or Yale or even Stanford or Columbia. Rather, she attended the University of South Carolina.)
I would not bet on Graham voting for her again, or the two gals.
I would not be a bit surprised, indeed, if asked the course of action I would advise, were President Joe to leave everyone to speculate until the end of the month then announce someone different.
Is she atheist (no religion) … ?
Biden will just pick the one who hates America and Constitutional freedoms the most.
The Republicans haven’t said who they would prefer, or have they? Would be interesting to see who (or what) the other side is looking at.
Their attention is solely on the fact that it is a Biden pick. That’s all they need.
I actually think someone who went to a law school other than Harvard, Yale, Stanford etc would be a good thing. Not sure we have to go the Warren Burger route but I do know that the elite law schools are all about getting in and there is very little reason to believe that the product coming out is superior to that of any other decent school. For the record I attended Michigan and the best lawyer I ever ran into was a Marquette grad. This is a country of 330 million people and if you are one of 9 deciding important legal and constitutional rules applying to all those folks it would be an advantage to have rubbed shoulders with non elites along the way. And marc go f*** yourself😊
Terry
The best attorney I know is the Dean of the School of Law Berkley. He is probably the least impressive person in appearance I ever met. We knew him from Duke to Southern California to Berkley. I can ask a question of him anytime and he answers.
T, ”
Marc – do you really expect him to nominate Donald J Trump?
Good answer, but probably shouldn’t feed the troll.
Trolls gotta eat too, so why not feed ’em some sh..? Yeah, I know fears of dirtying up the thread because we are way too smart and serious here to have any fun,
What does Trump have to do with anything?
The original Constitution (FOR the United States) is a revolutionary document that protects natural humans as sovereign entities with inalienable rights.
In opposition of millenia of feudalism and slavery. Thru a corporation.
Globalists only have one hurdle left before their dream of “making every single man, woman and child in the USA a slave (to quote JFK). That is the destruction of those protected rights (they missed the medical freedom but that’s for another day).
They’re working hard at it. They will lose. 1871 was the turning of our legal system. I wish for a return of the original Republic, away from European serfdom.
” At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. “
Nebraska becomes the 17th state to ask for a Constitutional Convention
(Only 17 more to go!)
The Nebraska Legislature overcame the filibuster in approving a push for a convention of states to amend the U.S. Constitution, becoming the 17th state to do so.
State lawmakers passed a legislative resolution, LR14, in a 32-11 vote Friday, according to the Unicameral Update.
A convention of states is outlined in Article V of the Constitution, according to The National Consitution Center. It is used to bypass Congress to amend the Constitution, but has never been used. A state’s call for amendments can only be considered after approval by two-thirds of its Legislature. With Nebraska’s call, the U.S. is halfway to getting the 34 states required for a convention, the Associated Press reported. …
Nebraska lawmakers advance convention of states proposal
“Not only was it authentic frontier gibberish, it expressed a courage little seen in this day and age.”
~Olson Johnson, Blazing Saddles
Judge Michelle Childs is under consideration to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, White House confirms
CBS News – Jan 28
Republicans Might Throw a Fit Over Biden’s Supreme Court Nominee, but They’re Powerless to Stop It
The New Republic – Jan 27
what the GOP is saying about the process to replace Justice Breyer
Boston Globe – Jan 30
‘If all Democrats hang together — which I expect they will ‘…
LOL. Humor from Lindsey Graham. Or a vague threat?