Thursday, January 27, 2022
PMT: Justice Breyer is stepping down
Today, it is expected that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will appear with President Biden and announce that he is stepping down from the Supreme Court at the end of this term.
Appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994 to replace Harry Blackmun, Breyer had a pretty standard background for those appointed to the Supreme Court over the past few decades: Harvard JD, clerkship on the Supreme Court, various postings at the DOJ, some teaching, a Circuit Court stint. He also was a member of the US Sentencing Commission at its formative stage, serving from 1985-1989.
Now there is a veritable scrum to replace him. President Biden pledged to nominate a black woman, which is controversial in some quarters as it rules out, say, white men. However, it is worth noting that black women were barred from consideration for 200 years or so, so there's that. There are many black women who would serve admirably on the Court and who are very well qualified.
I think what bugs me is that "well-qualified" means pretty much that they have the same set of experiences as Justice Breyer: Harvard or Yale law, Supreme Court clerkship, miscellaneous postings at the DOJ, some teaching, and a role on an appellate court. I'm hoping that there is some impulse to break out of that mold... but I'd be surprised if we do.
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Bravo, Mark. I have long speculated on the existence of a tunnel from Harvard Law to Yale Law to the Supreme Court with an intermediate stop at clerkship. These two schools may (or may not) produce the best and the brightest but Vietnam showed clearly how the "b and b" can screw things up royally. C'mon man. Pick someone outside of this box. There are said to be decent law schools in the Midwest, even relatively new ones.
Hot Minnesota rumor: upon hearing of Breyer's decision Amy K. was seen at a theatrical supply store shopping for blackface makeup. Rumor unconfirmed but . . .who knows?
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Hot Minnesota rumor: upon hearing of Breyer's decision Amy K. was seen at a theatrical supply store shopping for blackface makeup. Rumor unconfirmed but . . .who knows?
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