Litigation

Editorial: High Court Nominee Deserves a Vote

By Peter Hardin

Even before Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced his plans to retire, a Texas newspaper called 0n the U.S. Senate to give the person nominated to succeed him a fair hearing and a vote.

“Already there’s talk about Senate Republicans filibustering President Barack Obama’s next Supreme Court nominee,” a Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial protested Thursday, a day in advance of Justice Steven’s formal announcement.

The commentary reiterated what the newspaper’s editorial board had declared before:

“Every judicial nominee is entitled to the courtesy of a hearing and a Senate vote. And filibustering a well-qualified candidate over disagreement with the nominees’ views is a misguided tactic.”

You can learn more about the increasingly partisan strife over judicial nominations from Justice at Stake’s issues page on the topic. From the JAS fact sheets page, you can see a biography of Justice Stevens.

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 09, 2010 (boomark / email).