Some Data on Past Republican Picks
Republican Supreme Court Nominees (in reverse order of appointment)
(click on table to enlarge) (Table corrected from original. See comments below.)
My point: The great picks have all been movement conservatives and none of the others were. Almost all picks from top law school so no ability to infer much on this. Clerkships don't seem to matter either.
Miers: Nonexistent paper trail. Low ranked law school. No clerkship. (Correction: see comment below. Miers had a District Court clerkship.) Not a movement conservative. Hmmm.
(click on table to enlarge) (Table corrected from original. See comments below.)
My point: The great picks have all been movement conservatives and none of the others were. Almost all picks from top law school so no ability to infer much on this. Clerkships don't seem to matter either.
Miers: Nonexistent paper trail. Low ranked law school. No clerkship. (Correction: see comment below. Miers had a District Court clerkship.) Not a movement conservative. Hmmm.
posted by Harsh Pencil | 10/05/2005 03:44:00 PM
Miers clerked for a Fed District Court Judge in Texas. However, being from SMU and a woman, it was basically impossible for her to get any better Clerk job at the time (any lawyer here should know that).
I stand corrected.
The depressing thing about the table is that of ten Republican picks, four were horrible and another three were pretty disappointing.
That chart has a some errors on it. Thomas was on the DC Court of Appeals for less than a year (not two). Rehnquist clerked for Robert Jackson US Supreme Court.
What exactly does "movement conservative" mean?
It seems from that chart having a paper trail is worthless. Two out of three great picks had no paper trail.
Yes it is very depressing.
I've made the corrections in the post and table.
What is a movement conservative? Someone who is generally known to be active in conservative causes. That is, is active in conservative organizations such as the Federalist Society, affiliates with conservative think tanks, speaks to conservative groups, and so on.
O Conner was Republican majority leader of the Arizona State Senate. Does that count as a movement conservative?
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