Federal Judiciary

Sowell and Boitnott on Judicial Nominations

By AndrewHyman

Here are some recent thoughts from Thomas Sowell:

Highly qualified people, whose knowledge and judgment are much needed in high places, may turn down judicial nominations, for example, or decline other high-profile positions in government, if that means risking having outstanding reputations for integrity that they have built up over a lifetime be dragged through the mud in televised confirmation hearings conducted like Roman circuses. Such top-level people can always be replaced by warm bodies, as Judge Robert Bork was replaced by Judge Anthony Kennedy, after the smearing of Judge Bork by the Senate Judiciary Committee defeated his nomination. But the whole country continues to this day to pay dearly for having Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, making intellectually foppish decisions.

Quin Hilyer recently had a column criticizing the nomination of Anthony Trenga to US district court in Virginia. Virginia attorney Adam Boitnott writes that "Virginia Republicans should be THRILLED that we're getting 2 solid jurists on the 4th Circuit in exchange for 1 guy at the District Court level." Maybe not Stockholm Syndrome after all?

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Full post as published by ConfirmThem on August 05, 2008 (boomark / email).