A Woman and/or a Minority
Another question, brought on partly because of his recent selection of Roberts to replace the nation’s first woman justice, is whether Bush will be compelled to name a woman or a racial minority for Rehnquist’s spot.
Heh. I never knew that women and racial minorities were interchangable! So basically, as long as it’s not a white man, Bush should have no problem.
Of course, Bush should consider people of both genders and of all races… but the belief that the changing demographics of the court might compell him to choose someone of a certain gender or ethnicity is beyond ridiculous. This isn’t a Coca-Cola advertisement. The main criteria should be judicial competency! I don’t want to hear about “litmus tests” on political issues, and I don’t want to hear about “litmus test” on race or gender!
Personally, I’d love to see a woman or a minority (or both) elevated to the Supreme Court. I think it would be a watershed moment for the country. The respective elevations of Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, and Sandra O’Connor to the country’s highest court were all landmarks that show how far we have come as a country. But as important as these moments are, their creation should not in any way be seen as the primary goal of the nomination process. It’s nice, to be sure, but it can’t be anything more than icing on the cake.
Unfortunately, there is another variable to consider: the ease with which a particular nominee will make it through the Senate. As horrible as this is to say, if a nominee is a minority or a woman, the Democrats will be less likely to dig in their heels. Still, that is not a matter of the makeup of the court forcing Bush’s hand, but rather the desire of the Democratic party to engineer a court consisting of their ideal mix of races and genders that might limit Bush’s options.
