Legal Commentary

The holiday times, the end of a notable SCOTUS Term, and this new Findlaw article (titled "What Kind of Justices Might a President Obama Appoint? Senator Obama's Reactions to Recent Supreme Court Decisions Show that the Answer May Not Be Easily Predictable") have me thinking creatively about what a truly "unpredictable" SCOTUS short list might really look like.

Consider, for starters, that modern SCOTUS appointments are usually older individuals even though, as detailed here, the "average age of the delegates [at the Constitutional Convention] was 42 and four of the most influential delegates -- Alexander Hamilton, Edmund Randolph, Gouvernor Morris and James Madison -- were in their thirties."   A truly creative SCOTUS short list might include some folks born after the end of the Warren Court.

Consider also that all the current member of the Court were elevated from federal circuit courts even though, as detailed here, dozens of Justices throughout history have come to SCOTUS with no prior judicial experience.  (Notably, the list of SCOTUS judicial rookies includes John Marshall, Louis Brandeis, Harlan Fiske Stone, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Robert Jackson, and Earl Warren.)   A truly creative SCOTUS short list would include some folks who have never donned a black robe.

Finally, we should not leave out classic identity dynamics given that 106 of 110 Supreme Court justices in US history have been white men.    A truly creative SCOTUS short list would certainly include many folks with diverse personal characteristics and backgrounds.

So, for either or both leading Presidential candidates, how about using the comments to start developing a truly creative SCOTS short list?

(Cross-posted at SL&P)