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Weekend Assignment #318: The SCOTUS Choice
Recently, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced that he will retire, at the end of his term, later this year, leaving the position open to be filled by President Obama. As you know, Obama has chosen Elena Kagen as his nominee. I would like to hear your thoughts about this. Good choice? Bad choice? Indifferent? Who would you like to see appointed to the high court? Are you happy with the justices currently serving, or do you believe they leave something to be desired? Tell me what you think!
Extra Credit: Write one paragraph about a supreme court decision you felt strongly about either positively or negatively.
The recent announcement of Obama’s choosing his first Supreme Court nominee sent ripples through the media,leading into a storm as if he was going to choose the next minion of Satan(Fox), or the next Messiah on Earth(The Nation). SO when he announced Elena Kagen,my reaction was the same as everyone else:
Huh?
I’m not a legal insider by any means, but this lady came out of nowhere. And far be it from to ever agree with the mental sloths over at Fox,but I think they almost have a valid point. She’s not qualified,and she shouldn’t be nominated.
Before you accuse me of selling out, and going over to the enemy, hold up. It has absolutely nothing to do with her gender, ethnic background, hair color, or any of the other asinine reasons the bigots of Beck and Limbaugh’s ilk will claim. It’s her complete lack of experience as a judge. I just don’t want any decision she weighs in on smeared with the “she doesn’t know what she’s doing” tag. I’m not saying that having been a judge previously makes you infallible, just witness Scalia’s one man war against worker safety the last ten years. And yes, she is of a higher moral character than some on that high bench right now*cough* Thomas* . But her appointment would open up a whole can of worms that I really don’t want opened for the Supreme Court.
Yes, it might be fine when someone who isn’t a moral zero and corporate sellout isn’t in that chair to appoint someone, but what happens if Obama loses this next one? Do we get a president who thinks it’s OK to put say, Dick Cheney on the Court? He’s had just as much legal experience as Elena. You want that guy making choices about your rights and personal freedoms? And really, if Obama wanted to make the court more diverse, you mean to tell me there wasn’t a non-white female judge on a circuit court anywhere in this country? Or perhaps an openly gay male one? This whole thing smells of Rahm Emmanuel’s usual back room deals,and should be used as excuse to boot his slimy carcass out of the Obama administration.
On a final note, if Obama was bound and determined to put someone on the court who was an outsider,why stop with Elene? Why not get Jello Biafra? He’s been sued enough to have plenty of experience. Or how about Simon Cowell? He’s been cruel but fair as a judge, he really can’t be bought, and he’s used to getting boos. If it was up to me, I’d pick Jim Hightower. He’s a populist, he used to be an elected offical in Texas, and he ticks off people on both sides of the red/blue divide. Sounds like the perfect guy to me.
Extra Credit:The biggest Supreme Court decision of the last twenty years to affect me personally was Luther Campbell vs. Roy Orbison’s estate. Roy’s heirs were suing because Luther,aka Luke of Two Live Crew, had done a cover of Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” that they found offensive. The court ruled in favor of Campbell, setting up the terms of what is called “fair use” for others intellectual property for artistic usage. Without it, you wouldn’t have sampling, rap woudl havew faded out asa fad by now,and Creative Commons copyright wouldn’t exist,and neither would file sharing. So the next time you hear some great mash-up or remix, thank old Uncle Luke for paving a legal road to make those easier.
