Rossputin.com Rational Thinking About Our World

Hello all,

I'm in Las Vegas, helping a friend with his new company (very-high-end vehicle navigation systems), so I won't be writing a lot this week.

I wanted to make a quick comment about the new Supreme Court nominee, or rather the media and Democrats' reaction to him.

Many talking heads and leftist Senators like Chuck Schumer are clamoring about how the choice of Sam Alito was a sop to quell the anger of conservatives over the nomination of Harriet Miers.

A good example of all of the above can be found in this article from the San Jose Mercury News:
"Bush Nominates Alito to the Supreme Court"

In fact, conservatives were upset with the Miers pick...but not because she is not conservative enough. Conservatives (and libertarians, too) were unhappy with the choice of Miers because she clearly had no relevant experience in Constitutional law, and thus gives us no basis to believe that she will sure as an "originalist" (aka "strict constructionist"). It wouldn't surprise me if I had a better understanding of Constitutional precedent in critical cases of fundamental rights than Ms. Miers.

For those of us who believe that our political branches are out of control and that the judicial branch has done a terrible job of holding them to Constitutionally-authorized functions, it is critical that Justices understand the Constitution, the history of Constitutional law, and the many errors the court has made. A Justice must particularly know the Court's history since the 1930's when FDR's threat to pack the Court caused them to abandon responsibility for restraining the reach of government into the economic sphere of American life.

So, to the extent that Bush is placating conservatives, it is in appointing someone with tremendous qualifications, not someone who is more or less conservative than the prior nominee.