Bury Me Broken

Why Gonzales Should Not Be the SCOTUS nominee

A screamingly salient point concerning Attorney General Gonzales and a possible Supreme Court nomination from Mark Schmitt at Decembrist:

And this is a reminder that, above all else, independence is an essential characteristic of any judge and a Supreme Court justice in particular. The torture memos are bad in themselves, but they are also evidence that when Gonzalez had an opportunity to exercise some independence, by saying that there are values more important than giving the executive branch a shaky legal rationale to do what it wants to do, he did not exercise it.

There should be three concerns with a Supreme Court nomination: Ideology (is the nominee, who will be a conservative, within the conservative mainstream or beyond it); qualifications; and independence. That means independence from the president certainly, but it also means independence from some of the other political forces that will try to shape these nominations to their liking. Let's not forget about the third.

There are so many qualified possible nominees that the only reason the president forces a Bolton through the process of U.N. ambassador or Gonzales for SCOTUS is because it is his decision and Democrats need to accept his decision, his mandate and stop playing partisan politics. IMHO, that is arrogance. It isn't that Bolton or Gonzales are the most qualified bar none of every American available, it is because I made this decision and that is that. No other president presided in this father; his father did not nor did Reagan.

posted by niteskolar @ 1:41 PM