ConfirmThem

By Quin Posted in Uncategorized — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Not to be a spoilsport, but I am a little nervous about making Janice Rogers Brown (see Novak yesterday) be the first test case on the constitutional option. It looks too much -- not it it IS, mind you, but it looks like -- like a brazenly calculating bit of racial politics. And regardless of whether it is fair or not to Justice Brown, the whole debate over her, if she is the first, will be tinged with black-white issues. I think we need the first nomination to be "clean" of all extraneous issues and focus JUST on the underlying unfairness of the filibuster AND the underlying qualifications of the nominee. Oh -- and also on the philosophical justification for an jurisprudence of originalism, close textual analysis, and restraint. Much of that would get lost if the FIRST, and thus biggest, fight is filled with racial tensions and questions -- which it will be EVEN MORE SO now that Justice Brown has written her most recent opinions concerning bias against black women in jury selection. I say we should kill the filibuster first, and then move forward with Justice Brown so she can then be considered on her considerable merits alone. -- Quin