As to Justice Scalia, he is close personal friends with Justice Ginsberg, and was a professor at Stanford himself before Reagan selected him for the D.C. Court of Appeals en route to S.Ct. He was my professor in 1980 when our class in administrative law got cut short because of his appointment. Sotomayor is a lightweight in comparison, and would be the real daily double on the demographics, not Sullivan.

Then, picking people based on their qualifications alone will cause a court to be benched with people who, with some random fluctuation (it being a small sample), are a sample of the race, gender and sexual orientation of the population at large.

Yes, if that had ever actually been engaged in, it would have that effect.

In many ways Australia is more conservative then the USA. I guess we have you beat in this area. 🙂

Not sure why Bush didn’t see that when he was appointing.

My hypothesis about that: because Bush is ******* stupid.

That we seem to be considering picking people not based primarily on their qualifications, as though all candidates are equally qualified, makes me quite suspicious that it is not yet the case that there are enough qualified diverse candidates available.

A big part of the problem comes not from the pool of people qualified to be nominated, but from the unconscious associations we make between qualification and traits that have nothing to do with qualifications. If the court has always been white guys or predominantly white guys, and you say to yourself, “Hey, I need a new justice,” you’re more likely to think of a white guy.

It takes work to overcome one’s own stereotyped thinking. You’re seeing that work. You’re seeing the AP (not the White House, by the way) say, “Who are some of the qualified candidates who stray furthest from the stereotypes?” Turns out there are a bunch of them. Duh.

Not sure why Bush didn’t see that when he was appointing.

A highly qualified female black hispanic lesbians may be hard to find, but maybe not impossible.

I think the most imbalance along these axes is female/male (does that make sense?) so picking a woman is the thing to do.

There really is not a “best” one person. Nothing like that is even close to the basic reality. There are hundreds or thousands of “bests” for a job like this. Among these bests there are many non-white male candidates.

Right?

Ultimately, it should. That’s because we want all people to have the same opportunity to become educated and gain the experience and knowledge necessary to serve in that position. Then, picking people based on their qualifications alone will cause a court to be benched with people who, with some random fluctuation (it being a small sample), are a sample of the race, gender and sexual orientation of the population at large.

To pick candidates based on gender, race and sexual orientation assumes that this has already happened. It assumes that they are all about equally qualified, so you might as well pick the ones that will go over well with the electorate. That we seem to be considering picking people not based primarily on their qualifications, as though all candidates are equally qualified, makes me quite suspicious that it is not yet the case that there are enough qualified diverse candidates available.

Don’t get me wrong. I would be tickled pink to see the court have a cross-section of Americana. But I want it to be able to do its job first and foremost. The Supreme Court is not a showcase–It’s the workhorse of American law. So let’s get all Americans educated, and wealthy and able to have a fair shot at the power base. Then perhaps you’ll see the court only half-European and only half-male.

We are half women. We are about 68% Non-Hispanic white. The court does not reflect this very well, and it should.

Yes, the person needs to be highly qualified. I always laugh when I hear, though, that highly qualified as a criterion trumps all else. Anyone who thinks that has never actually been on a hiring committee. There are enough Off or Non-White Lesbian Female Atheists (or whatever) who are qualified to make this work.