Friday, September 23, 2005

A solution to the "Roberts" Problem

Many Democrats are now saying that they will not vote to confirm Judge Roberts, "because he hasn't answered all of our questions." This is disingenuous at best, or, stupid at worst. A judge cannot be asked to answer how they will rule on a matter that may come before them, since the lawyers for the side that the judge would rule against can claim bias and ask that the judge be recused. Although, who do you appeal to if a member of the Supreme Court won't recuse themselves?
My solution, is to take already settled cases, and ask the nominee if they agree or disagree with the holding of the majority and why? Some easy ones would be Roe, or Casey v. Planned Parenthood, and Kehoe. My favorite, particuarly in light of the author of the opinions, would be trying to reconcile the disparities in the University of Michigan cases. Why is it okay to admit the son of a black dentist over the daughter of a white sharecropper to the undergrad university, but improper to examine the race of an applicant to the law school? What is the basis for allowing discrimination for 25 more years, and what happens at the end of that time if there still is discrimination.

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