Justice Souter plans to retire

[Viking Prince]

Justice Souter plans to retire‎

Souter's retirement became the subject of intense interest Thursday when the ... "The justice has no comment" about his retirement plans or the hiring of ...

Ok -- so who should Pres. Obama name as a nominee?

• An existing Apeals Court or at least someone from the federal bench?
• Or somebody outside the federal court system?
• Is there a driving need for this appointment to be a minority(female, black, hispanic, Am. Indian, etc.)?

[Iscariott]

Find me one who's pro social liberalism - gay marriage, and pro gun.

[AqD]

Find me one who's pro social liberalism - gay marriage, and pro gun.

to become the first gun-owning gay Justice?

[Viking Prince]

to become the first gun-owning gay Justice?

I somehow doubt the great and powerful Obam will reach accross the aisle and appoint a log cabin Republican to the Supreme Court. The image of


In a black robe appointed by a liberal Democrat would just annoy the Obama base.

[Admiral Piett]

Impartiality should be the major stride of any Justice. I believe it should be someone outside the Federal Court.

[danzig]

[*]Is there a driving need for this appointment to be a minority(female, black, hispanic, Am. Indian, etc.)?[/LIST]

No there isnt a need for it but you can bet the ranch that the pick will indeed be a minority...hell my guess is a black woman to fill two "needs" of the left wing since Clarence Thomas isnt a "real" black man since he is a conservative and they dont count in the minds of people who support Obama.

[Fishy]

Still something I don't understand. How can the president appoint the judges that at times should to have to judge his policies... Absolutely insane.

Anyways politically speaking he would appoint a preferably black woman with quite liberal stand points. The best thing to do would just to appoint the best judge out there. Without looking at policies or personal opinions on matters. Judges should look at the law nothing else.

[Bovril]

Still something I don't understand. How can the president appoint the judges that at times should to have to judge his policies... Absolutely insane.

And given that its a political appointment, accademic legal ability goes out of the window. It's also not in the interests of the president to chose someone impartial. Then again, applying constitutional law is never going to be about impartiality since the constitution is not a properly drafted legal document.

[Fishy]

And given that its a political appointment, accademic legal ability goes out of the window. It's also not in the interests of the president to chose someone impartial. Then again, applying constitutional law is never going to be about impartiality since the constitution is not a properly drafted legal document.

That's true, but there are still some things in there that should be very clear. At times it looks at least from my pov that decisions are made out of political ideals not always on the best way to judge the constitution. It just remains stupid in my opinion that a position like this can be appointed by somebody who is involved in politics.

Not that it really matters. WE all know Obama will appoint somebody that is politically beneficial for him.

[Boer]

. It just remains stupid in my opinion that a position like this can be appointed by somebody who is involved in politics.

How would you have Supreme Court Justices selected?

[Fishy]

How would you have Supreme Court Justices selected?

No idea... The Senate nor the House would be really good alternatives. Can't let the people vote either. Commissions would still be filled with political influeince everywhere. And a combination of those factors would make sure that only idiots or the most brilliant of people (who don't come around often) would get elected.

So really I have absolutely no idea, but it must be possible to do this in a better way somehow. Can't say I've thought about this enough to figure it out yet. But you could in theory get a commission to select 10 names from all sides of the political spectrum and then have another commission or perhaps even the president select from that list without knowing who the people are or their points of views on matters like abortion and gun control, but just based on other cases they handled which were important but never touching on political matters.

That could possible create a far less biased way of doing it. Doubt it would be very feasible though as the commission that would need to appoint the judges in the first place would probably be surrounded by an army of lobiests from several company's and the mayor party's in the US. Not to mention that the president could probably figure out who is who if he justs asks or has paid attention to the news in recent years or just uses Wikipedia which would be even easier.

[Gaidin]

It just remains stupid in my opinion that a position like this can be appointed by somebody who is involved in politics.

Hey let's do something even wierder. Let's do a popular vote and throw the current approval process out the window!

[danzig]

And given that its a political appointment, accademic legal ability goes out of the window. It's also not in the interests of the president to chose someone impartial. Then again, applying constitutional law is never going to be about impartiality since the constitution is not a properly drafted legal document.

Most of the time it goes out the window but say what you will about Bush no one can question Robert's academic qualifications for his appointment compare this to say Clarence Thomas or even Ginsburg who imo were primarily political choices vs qualifications.

[Boer]

Most of the time it goes out the window but say what you will about Bush no one can question Robert's academic qualifications

True, too bad he went way off target with the (short lived) Harriet Miers nomination.

[danzig]

True, too bad he went way off target with the (short lived) Harriet Miers nomination.

Well funny thing is there are some rumblings in the media that Obama is thinking out side the box and going outside the justices world to grab an "outsider" like Miers. How funny and hypocritical would THAT be...when the time comes though Im sure Obama will pick an established and very liberal minority fed judge. This pick he can pretty much pick anyone because it wont upset the balance of the court given Souter's disposition. The supreme court is actually safe from Obama stacking the deck since those most likely to retire are the liberal judges due to age so unless someone dies....

[Kiljan Arslan]

my problem with Thomas comes from that he likes Ayn Rand.

[The King Of Peasants]

Deval Patrick is going to be the replacement as 1) They're good friends, and Obama owes him a favor, 2) hes exClinton which seems to be where every appointee has come from, and 3) Hes going to be voted out next year.

[Sphere]

Hey let's do something even wierder. Let's do a popular vote and throw the current approval process out the window!

Sounds good in theory, but I live in state where State Justices are elected. The presidential campaigns look like fuzzy kittens in comparison to the election of Justices. Think of what a US Supreme Court election would look like, the issues would only be; abortion, gun-control, gay-marriage, capital punishment etc. Already there are some intense lobbying groups that surround a Supreme Court appointment.

No, the Supreme Court is not a political branch of government, it is not supposed to carryout the will of the people but rather be the referee for the actual political branches of government, which is hard to do when you have a party and an election to think about. And a non-political Supreme Court is the last guardian against one party rule in situations like we have currently and for most of the Bush years. The current process of appointment isn't perfect, but I cannot think of a better one that would preserve the independent, and non-political role of the court.

[Gaidin]

Damn it to hell.

[Nietzsche]

Justice Souter plans to retire‎

Souter's retirement became the subject of intense interest Thursday when the ... "The justice has no comment" about his retirement plans or the hiring of ...

Ok -- so who should Pres. Obama name as a nominee?

• An existing Apeals Court or at least someone from the federal bench?
• Or somebody outside the federal court system?
• Is there a driving need for this appointment to be a minority(female, black, hispanic, Am. Indian, etc.)?

It will likely be a minority candidate with party ties and/or a friend of the administration. Credentials are meaningless.

I predict one of his lackeys from his old state, or a minority candidate from among various democratically held states.