Delete comment from: Boston 1775
“Every time” is correct. As the example of the first court shows, Presidents have been picking Supreme Court justices for diversity since the beginning. Jeffrey Toobin’s item in the latest New Yorker notes how concern for geographic diversity (and tokenism) was succeeded by religious diversity, gender diversity, ethnic diversity.
For that reason, mandating a particular makeup of the court seems unnecessary, and likely to become out of date. Can we identify the forms of representation that will concern the American public in forty years?
I think a lot of the nattering about Sotomayor is simply politics. Conservatives don’t want any non-conservatives on the court, even a pragmatic liberal like her. Had President Obama nominated a rich white man from the left, the right wing would be finding other reasons to complain about him and raise funds.
The facts that Sotomayor is female and Hispanic make her appealing for political reasons. But they also allow bigots and those who play to them a handy way to fire up some opposition.
Jun 3, 2009, 8:03:12 PM