ConfirmThem

By Marshall Manson Posted in SCOTUS — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

With attention beginning to turn to the President's choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice O'Connor's retirement, the Left is once again ramping up its cry for "maintaining balance" on the High Court. This usually involves urging the President to name a "consensus" nominee. Of course, what that really means is that the Left wants the President to nominate a liberal.

A few weeks ago, Professor Keith Whittington did a number on the balance argument in National Review. His piece worth another look now that "balance" has sprung up like a phoenix.

And today, Reid Cox added his own contribution over at CFIF's website. Reid takes a historical look, reminding the Democrats that presidents from their party -- most notably FDR -- have emphatically rejected balance as they sought judges who would embrace their agendas.

[By calling for balance], the Democrats are turning a blind eye not only to the text and structure of our Constitution, but also to how their own Party’s most famous leader selected justices for the Supreme Court. After all, how can Senator Schumer claim that no President has ever “sought to imbalance the courts� like President Bush without ignoring President Roosevelt’s struggle to tip the balance of the judiciary in the 1930s and ’40s?

[snip]

The next time you hear a Democrat saying that President Bush must nominate a justice who will maintain the “balance� on the Supreme Court, remember who’s doing the talking — not a historian, but a politician who believes the status quo is the best the Democrats can do right now.

You can peruse Reid's full historical analysis and thorough debunking of the balance argument here.