Academic

Supreme Court Justice Anita Hill?

By Nareissa Smith

Nell Scovell at Vanity Fair has an interesting proposal: Nominate Anita Hill for the Supreme Court.   Among the reasons she cites in support of her idea: "I want the still ranking member of the Judiciary Committee Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) to finally treat Hill with the respect she deserves. I want Hill confirmed with more votes than Thomas. And, mostly, I want Hill to counter Thomas?s continued assaults on personal freedoms and equality." 

Of course, this is not going to happen.  At all.  Ever.  But more interesting is Professor Hill's response.  For her part, here's who she'd like to see on the Court: "[H]igh on my list of people Obama ought to consider for the Supreme Court are Dean Harold Koh of Yale Law School (international law specialist) and Lani Guinier at Harvard. (She never had her chance to prove herself before the Judiciary Committee.) I?d also like for him to go outside the Northeast corridor and Ivy League Schools for someone who has been on a state supreme court deciding significant social/economic issues."

The politics of making Justice Thomas squirm aside, Professor Hill raises some astute points about the need for geographical and educational diversity on the Court.   I posted about these latter points on the Con Law Profs Blog (my regular "gig") here.  I opined that geography perhaps made little difference, but President Obama should try to diversify the educational and occupational backgrounds of the Justices.  Remember, many of our most renowned Justices - Earl Warren, Thurgood Marshall, Warren Burger, and Hugo Black - did not come from "traditional" backgrounds.   

Here's hoping that as the Obama administration considers racial and gender diversity, it will also take a hard look at these other "diversity" issues as well.  

By the way, Anita Hill is an academic, which would make her diverse in that she is not a federal judge, but she works in the Northeast corridor, so she lacks geographical diversity.   Oh well . . . 

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on May 02, 2009 (boomark / email).