Who Should Obama Choose for SCOTUS?

by Leigh Graham · 2009-05-05 20:27:00 UTC
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Jen has some thoughts on finding a Justice who is a strong advocate for women's rights.  Digby takes apart the whines that Obama's being unfair if he's not considering white men (or something), and includes this typical but troubling anecdote about how our inequalities are reproduced on a daily basis:

It reminds me of a boss I once had few years ago who, after interviewing a number of people for mid-level job said, "you know I'd really like to hire a female or a person of color for the job but I just don't feel as though any of them have quite the same potential as the white guys." When I wondered why he thought that, he said, completely without guile, "well, how many successful people of color or women do you know?" And around and around it goes.

More importantly, Weboy reminds us that there are many kinds of diversity, and that we'd benefit from diversifying the court from its dominant pro-business stance.  And finding some justices outside the federal appeals court system, that's another way to bring new, creative thinking to the bench.

I hear there are 3 women in the running, incl. Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge (d'oh!) who Hispanic Business describes as "a 54-year-old woman of Puerto Rican descent who rose to prominence despite being raised poor in the Bronx".   lol blunt!  Also this: "She also sided with labor in the Major League Baseball strike of 1995."

I don't really know much about Sotomayor or the other two women I keep hearing mentioned: Elena Kagan and Pamela Karlan.  You folks know anything?

Who do you think Obama should choose for SCOTUS?  And why?

Leigh Graham
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