Watch Obama push Loretta Lynch. That'll drive up the engagement of lots of the African-American community should the Rs obstruct.
Watch Obama push Loretta Lynch. That'll drive up the engagement of lots of the African-American community should the Rs obstruct.
Link - Lynch?
I doubt that. It's my guess Obama will tap a balanced jurist who leans left and believes the constitution is a living document, but someone safe. I think the Republicans in the Senate fear that because if they fail to confirm what appears to be a reasonable candidate, the public may turn against all Republicans. It seems they are having enough trouble on the top of their ticket. The last thing they need is to make a few incumbents facing tough elections more vulnerable.
I wouldn't downplay the political play of a Lynch nomination.
I also wouldn't downplay the pressure Cruz is going to have on all this.
Srinivasan, I suspect, would be a safe pick. Not sure why Obama would go the safe route though. He has the opportunity to flip SCOTUS and crush the Rs with an enthusiastic turn-out of African-American voters to give the Rs payback should they try to bloody Lynch.
Last edited by BedellBrave; 02-15-2016 at 04:06 PM.
That's what I imagine will happen, as well. Kagan and Sotomayor are hardly liberal firebrands. Unless some crazy election year shenanigans ensue, I wouldn't see this nominee as being much different.
Either way, it's hard to imagine a nominee that is a left-wing analogue of Robert Bork, or of Justice Scalia. It's important to keep that in mind, IMO.
It would really be nice if there was a standard minimum expectation that a supreme court justice should be an expert in constitutional law.
thank you weso1!
Why would we think Lynch is such an analogue?
[MENTION=4]Julio3000[/MENTION] and [MENTION=54]50PoundHead[/MENTION] why do y'all think Lynch is an unbalanced, unsafe jurist?
I mean she's already made it thru one Senate confirmation process.
There is no constitutional qualification.
Warren :
Academic
Warren started her academic career at Rutgers School of Law–Newark (1977–78). She moved to the University of Houston Law Center (1978–83), where she became Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 1980, and obtained tenure in 1981. She taught at the University of Texas School of Law as visiting associate professor in 1981, and returned as a full professor two years later (staying 1983–87). In addition, she was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan (1985) and research associate at the Population Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin (1983–87).[30] Early in her career, Warren became a proponent of on-the-ground research based on studying how people actually respond to laws in the real world. Her work analyzing court records, and interviewing judges, lawyers, and debtors, established her as a rising star in the field of bankruptcy law.[31]
Warren joined the University of Pennsylvania Law School as a full professor in 1987 and obtained an endowed chair in 1990 (becoming William A Schnader Professor of Commercial Law). She taught for a year at Harvard Law School in 1992 as Robert Braucher Visiting Professor of Commercial Law. In 1995, Warren left Pennsylvania to become Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.[30] As of 2011, she was the only tenured law professor at Harvard who was trained at an American public university.[31] At Harvard, Warren became one of the most highly cited law professors in the United States. Although she had published in many fields, her expertise was in bankruptcy. In the field of bankruptcy and commercial law, only Douglas Baird of Chicago, Alan Schwartz of Yale, and Bob Scott of Columbia have citation rates comparable to that of Warren.[32] Warren's scholarship and public advocacy were the impetus behind the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.[33]
The best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to make sure he doesn’t get a gun.
Yeah, let's nominate an old white woman to go along with an old white woman POTUS nominee. Whoopee!
NBC picks up the Lynch suggestion: Link.
[QUOTE=BedellBrave;290187][MENTION=4]Julio3000[/MENTION] and [MENTION=54]50PoundHead[/MENTION] why do y'all think Lynch is an unbalanced, unsafe jurist?[/QUOTE
I think she'd be an excellent pick, but given race/gender it would be easily picked up by the Republicans as "Obama doesn't care about white America" and add fuel to the presidential race. I think Obama wants to take the long view on this one and get his choice on the court and to do that, he may have to forego political points. Sad really, but that's the system we now have.
PS--I should have used an adjective other than "balanced." Lynch is accomplished and balanced. I meant someone less politically-charged.
I still am having a hard time getting y'all's reserve about Lynch. She's not, from what i can tell, a liberal firebrand. Her years of being a prosecutor should inoculate her fairly well from that charge. She's already received one confirmation. She's relatively young. That she is an woman and a African American woman seem not to be a knock on her but plusses. What R politician is really going to push an "Obama doesn't care about white America" line of attack against her? Dang, I can't even see Trump doing that.
Also, why wouldn't Obama make the political points? Would seem to be an exceedingly beneficial move for himself and the Ds, imho.
Last edited by BedellBrave; 02-15-2016 at 05:01 PM.
50PoundHead (02-15-2016)
I don't even know if Lynch would want the job. She's been a prosecutor here whole life with no real experience as a judge or constitional lawyer. She's just fine where she is right now. It would be a purely political move if Obama nominated her. She may be too prideful to play that role.
thank you weso1!