Two old hicks bellyaching about all the Ivies and New Yorkers (wink wink) on the Court

[BurtWorm]

To many, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s degree from Harvard Law School and her subsequent service as the school’s dean might be seen as a boon for her candidacy for the high court, proof of an Ivy League-caliber intellect that qualifies her to join the nation’s most elite group of legal thinkers.

But Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday that he’s had his fill of Supreme Court hopefuls who hail from the esteemed university by the Charles.

“Do you ever think the day will come when we have a nominee for the United States Supreme Court that didn’t go to Harvard Law School? That might be healthy for America,” McCain said on the Senate floor during the second day of debate on Kagan’s nomination.

“I think it might,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) replied. The ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, also in the chamber, said he wasn’t “so worried about where come from,” but went on to suggest New York City might be overrepresented as well.

“When you have five people on the Supreme Court ... all from one of the boroughs of New York and most of them from Harvard and Yale, <that> does raise questions,” Sessions said. Indeed, three of the past five justices to join the court attended Harvard. Two attended Yale.

“Maybe somebody from Arizona could handle that job,” Sessions quipped.

“Or perhaps Alabama,” countered McCain, who said he would oppose Kagan because of restrictions imposed on military recruiters while she was the law school dean in Cambridge.

...

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40681.html#ixzz0vlnzT21Y

[damntexdem]

1. Well, then, convince the RW poison Ivies on the SCOTUS to resign.

;-)

[Retrograde]

10. Works for me

I expressed the same concerns when Kagan was nominated. If we can get, say, Scalia, to step down maybe next time Obama can appoint someone from west of the Hudson.

[lunatica]

2. Is that all they can find to be critical about?

Harvard and New York? That's it?

[Angry Dragon]

3. Mr. McCain, have you ever not received a government paycheck??

[bigwillq]

4. Did either of these clowns vote for

Alito or Roberts? :shrug:


on edit: Yeah, I thought so. (had to go and check the votes)

[CTyankee]

5. These guys are doing their cause no good...

I live in the city of Yale, New Haven, but I think we absolutely SHOULD have more SC justices from law schools around the country. Particularly our state universities. We need more diversity geographically on the court and also demographically. It would be a huge help to getting better results in SCOTUS decisions that affect our basic democracy...

[BurtWorm]

8. Yes, more diversity would be good, but as you say, not framed as fear

the way these dufusses frame it. I note they said nothing about the overwhelming number of right-wing Catholics on the court. We could use much more variety of religious beliefs.

[CTyankee]

12. If we had more grads of U of WI Madison Law School for instance, we might have

a more diverse and demographically diverse court. We might have an atheist. We would most certainly have a more diverse economic group, IMHO. Those who went to state law schools because they couldn't afford the Ivies would be in a better stance. I like that...

[JuniperLea]

6. Degree and alma mater envy is so ugly...

And these two don't need anything else on their ugly plate. Those hateful hearts are quite sufficient.

[DFLforever]

7. They're just stoking the right-wing populism of their base

anti-well-educated,, Eastern elite sort of shit.

[joeybee12]

9. And of course they'er not anti-semitic hypocrites because they raised the same concerns with Alito

and Roberts...oh wait, they ARE anti-semitic hypocrites.

[gratuitous]

11. I believe Sandy baby was from Arizona, was she not?

As was former Chief Justice Renchler (as Nixon referred to Rehnquist). Oh yeah, the Republicans got a LOT of mileage out of those two, although Mrs. O'Connor now apparently regrets joining the majority in Bush v. Gore.

[marmar]

13. New York City might be overrepresented? .... He's not even trying to veil his feelings.

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions was born in the wrong century. Or at least the wrong decade/country. (I'm thinking 1930s Germany was more his speed).

[Dawson Leery]

14. Jefferson 'Davis" Sessions has taken his white robes out of the closet.