THE NATION's Panel of Legal Experts pick "ideal" SC Justice. The WINNER IS:

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The Nation magazine editors asked "a panel of legal experts to name their ideal Supreme Court justice. "

Gifted scholar, professor Pamela Karlan is the most recommeded to the Court -- She get 3 mentions as the best possible candidate to "follow Souter."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090525/following_souter

{Exerpt}

Jamie Raskin (law professor, American University):

Stanford Law professor Pamela Karlan would be the runaway knockout choice. As a justice on the Court, she would have the same kind of electrifying and transformative effect on American justice as President Obama has had on American politics.

What makes this constitutional law professor perfect for the job is that her core specialty is the law governing the political process and elections, which has been a field of broken dreams for more than a decade on this contemptuous, democracy-trampling Supreme Court. From Bush v. Gore to the Shaw v. Reno line of cases striking down majority African-American and Hispanic Congressional districts to the Voting Rights Act, campaign finance and ballot access cases, the battered liberal wing of the Court has lacked a powerful visionary champion of democratic values and practices.

A dazzling elections and voting rights attorney who has worked pro bono for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Karlan would bring brilliant passion to the project of seeing that all votes count and that the popular will not be thwarted by schemes, brutish or subtle, to suppress and nullify participation.

Co-author of a leading casebook on the law of democracy, a gifted scholar with a common touch, Karlan would quickly reclaim the mantle of constitutional populism from its phony friends on the right, who pose as friends of the common man but show contempt for representative institutions and the legislative process at every turn and even shut down vote-counting when it seems convenient.
Karlan has a golden pen, a penchant for lucid analysis and cogent quip, and a far greater sense of the meaning of constitutional rights for people without power and wealth than anyone else in the running.

As a former law clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun and the founding director of Stanford's Supreme Court litigation clinic, she's no stranger to the High Court and would teach Justice Scalia some lessons about logical rigor and legal reasoning in the cause of freedom. But as a leading legal academic and practitioner whose passion is justice, not power, she would profoundly change the chemistry of this out-of-touch and arrogant bench (remember Lilly Ledbetter). President Obama, who taught constitutional law and election law, can surely recognize a kindred spirit. "Justice Karlan": try it on; the title fits.

[Mabus]

1. I was hanging out with Raskin last night

He's a great guy. We caught up with at "All The Right Moves" a kick-off event for the local chess movement. I respect his opinion. He's a brilliant guy.

My favorite quote of his is: People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible. (during a Maryland State Senate hearing regarding same-sex marriage, in March, 2006).

[Inuca]

2. Great quote! n/t

[anonymous171]

14. Awesome quote. nt

[Thrill]

3. she is likely a tough vetting.

Shes been on TV a lot

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4. And imagine the daytime ratings for the confirmation hearings!

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5. I'd still like to find someone with a record of ruling against "corporate personhood"...

If she has that record and can be counted on to bring that "judicial activist" (er "court clerk activist") decision down that lead to so many corporate-serving decisions over the many years (including blocking of decent public campaign finance laws because of "corporate free speech" protection notions), then she'll have my support too.

I like Erwin Chemerinsky because I think he'll help in this regard with his history speaking out against "corporate free speech" in a Nike case some years back. But if we can find a decent and well qualified woman candidate who also will work in this regard, by all means lets push her as well!

But to me "corporate personhood" has to be the important and pivotal topic of judicial appointments NOW, with so much evidence of lobbyist corruption now being at the core of so many of our problems (the war, bailouts, single payer health reform, etc.)! I think we've lost so much over the last decade in appointments that don't want to work against these notions. Even Rehnquist himself was a voice against corporate personhood that was lost! This was one area that the court tipped the scale even moreso than protecting women's rights of choice.

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7. Erwin Chemerinsky -- the top constitutional scholar. Has he been mentioned on a list?

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8. He may need pressure to get on one... He needed pressure to get hired by Cal Irvine

that held up his hire of the head of their law school because of some people complaining he was "too liberal".

Obama might hold back from him too unless we put a lot of pressure on him. On the other hand, if we can find an equally qualified woman that would also do the things Chemerinsky would do, I'd probably prefer her at this point and save Chemerinsky to later so that we can get a little more gender balance on the court.

The key thing for me is to not just hire someone just because of their gender. I don't want someone like Condi Rice hired just because of their race and gender. Now I know Obama won't come close to get someone like Condi, but you get my drift. I want a complete package. And I think there's gotta be someone out there that fits that. But that person is going to need a lot of support from us to overcome the right wingers on the judiciary committee (especially the bum that replaced Specter there) and Obama's propensity to like to favor "the middle", which might leave out folks that would combat corporate personhood that we so sorely need in these courts now.

[Kaleko]

6. Take a look at her pic -

A face, body language and speech patterns often tell volumes more than mere words can convey...




Pamela S. Karlan is a professor at Stanford Law School and an authority on voting and constitutional law.

Ms. Karlan, who is gay, has been mentioned as a possible nominee for the Supreme Court when Justice David H. Souter retires at the end of the term in June.

Professor Karlan served as a law clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the Supreme Court and Judge Abraham D. Sofaer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She is the co-author of three leading casebooks on constitutional law and related subjects.

She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, earned a masters in history at Yale and graduated from Yale Law School, where she served as articles and book editor for Yale Law Journal.

Source: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/pamela_s_karlan/index.html?inline=nyt-per

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9. How about 1 more REC for this vessel of EMPATHY for the unjustly downtrodden

[saltpoint]

10. She sounds like one of those 'activist judges' the GOP are always warning of.

And by god I LIKE activist judges.

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12. She is not a Judge now, but a scholar of the constitution. Will be a good change for the court

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13. A constitutional scholar will be hard for the right to contend with...

... and if they bring up the "judicial activist" crap that they usually do with Roe v. Wade, we need to make sure that the non-corporatist elements of congress speak loudly of how the more serious "judicial activist" decisions weren't Roe v. Wade that had more effects on all of us today, but the notion of "corporate personhood", where we need justices to restore constitutional law being enforced in this area. Perhaps that will help shut them up on this issue as well as Roe v. Wade.

We also need to make sure that whoever we nominate, man or woman, will not be a toadie for corporate special interests here too.

[Wednesdays]

11. K&R

:kick: