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Earl Warren was a political hack. William Douglas was a political hack. Every SCOTUS Justice, except for for Thomas, was an absolute top-tier jurist at the tim
by pyuser583 2y ago
Earl Warren was a political hack. William Douglas was a political hack.
Every SCOTUS Justice, except for for Thomas, was an absolute top-tier jurist at the time they were appointed.
Every SCOTUS Justice, except Thomas, could have received a tenured professorship at any law school in the country, a partnership at any law firm in the country, editorship of almost any law journal in the country, etc.
Any one, including Thomas, would have been welcome as a professor at the Unversities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Sydney, etc; a magic circle UK law firm; or as arbiter in international trade.
Any one, including Thomas, would have been a shoe in for attorney general or solicited general of US. Any one, including Thomas, could have gotten a position as US Attorney in either a Democratic or Republican administration.
We have an insanely well qualified SCOTUS, mostly because of how arduous the confirmation process is.
- Der_Einzige 2y agoI'm guessing you think Thurgood Marshall is a political hack too? How do you go 10 years without even asking a question (https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/politics/supreme-court-clarence-thomas-10-year-streak-question/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/politics/supreme-court-claren...) if you're so good you could be an attorney general. He's lazy, and that's even worse than just being a sex predator (Anita Hill) in the context of jurisprudence. He writes the shortest, shittiest, least well thought out opinions. He's phoning it in and has been for decades now. Seems that our best justices are "political hacks" and our worst are those who are excellent lawyers. Maybe that's because lawyers are only slightly above "used car salesman" in terms of honesty? Shit dude, If law credentials mattered, than Comey wouldn't have ever been an attorney (Cooley law, worst law school in america). Was he also a "political hack"?
- pyuser583 2y agoThe justices can function just fine without asking questions. The courts work is almost written. The only important questions are dry, procedural ones. This is how courts work.
- Der_Einzige 2y agoNot in constitutional law hearings, this is the exact moment when oral arguments are extremely important. They write them down after they're made, not before. Make better arguments please, you showed you were capable of it earlier when you wrote the top level justification. Why not do it here?
- remarkEon 2y ago> this is the exact moment when oral arguments are extremely important. They write them down after they're made, not before. The two parties and their friends have submitted mountains of briefings before oral argument. The arguments made in front of the court are already fully baked. Oral argument is only a signal on where the justices' thinking is taking them at the time. All of this is public, by the way. You can go read everything on your own (something more people in this thread should do).
- pyuser583 2y agoThurgood Marshall was a widely respected trial attorney. He never held elected office. No he was not a political hack. Warren had been elected governor of California on both a Republican and Democratic ticket. That’s the very definition of a politician. I don’t have a good definition of hack. If our best lawyers are no better than used car salesmen, why are they so well regarded internationally?
- 15155 2y ago> How do you go 10 years without even asking a question Because your fellow jurists ask the questions for you. He explained this position cogently: he does not want to influence the process or the case being presented to him. When seniority-based speaking order changed during COVID virtual hearings, he started asking questions again.
- Forgeties79 2y agoWhen the GOP stole a seat and railroaded their third justice in for a partisan 6-3 SCOTUS he started asking questions again.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]