Question: Who was the Southern White Protestant SCOTUS Justice?

FreeRepublic ^ | 15 October 05 | gobucks

[gobucks]

After thinking it over for a bit, the Miers outrage among 'conservatives' seems to have one major feature: she is a Southern, White, Protestant.

And that type of individual has not been on the SCOTUS for a long long time. I don't think this is an 'accident' of history.

[gobucks]

Black was appointed in 39, and was even a KKK member but he reputiated it....

Powell was perhaps presbryterian-lite, PCUSA.

[gobucks]

instead of logic games, could you please help out, and just let me know the name of the last conservative white protestant SCOTUS justice??

[trek]

If we must have an unqualified crony for SCOTUS I would prefer the chief legal council at Halliburton. Cheney probably "knows his heart" and a nomination like that would have the benefit of making the left go insane. That at least would be fun to watch.

[ClaireSolt]

This brings up the straw man often evoked by the likes of Kennedy and Schumer that people from former confederate states are all ignorant racists. It helps them ignore the racism in Northern communities, and is never far from political discourse. Maybe, some remember the post election red and blue maps frequently comparing the red states to the former confederacy.

This does not make Meirs qualified. However, in my own mind, we would do well to go outside the ivy league for candidates as often as we can. Our last presidential election seemed like a Yale student council election to me, and when I was in grad school the Yale history faculty was Marxist.

[Christopher Lincoln]

Exactly the question.

[msnimje]

The following are NOT qualifications for sitting on the Supreme Court

1) Southern
2) White
3) Protestant
.

[gobucks]

I agree they are not qualifications. I just submit that for a long long time, a lot of folks are perfectly fine to use this combination of criteria (plus conservative) as grounds for elimination from consideration for sitting on SCOTUS.

That is why no one has yet answered my original question, have you noticed? The earliest 'maybe' is Black ... but he went off the 'reservation pronto. Who was the last conservative southern protestant to serve as a conservative southern protestant on the court??

I bet you don't know.

[msnimje]

Who was the last conservative southern protestant to serve as a conservative southern protestant on the court??

It doesn't matter becuase it could not be more irrelevant. The Supreme Court is not a place where you put certain percentages of certain groups. Likewise, it would not matter if there were 9 Southern Protestant Whites on the Supreme Court as long as they all had real qualifications and mental acuity to handle being there.

Your argument is a Red Herring trying to get people to ignore the fact that Harriet Miers is not qualified to sit on the Supreme Court.

[gobucks]

"It doesn't matter becuase it could not be more irrelevant. The Supreme Court is not a place where you put certain percentages of certain groups. "

Oh.

[scrabblehack]

There has been some historical reason for geographic balance. As the nation grew, seats were added to the Supreme Court, as the new justice would be in charge of that circuit. Let's see...it went from 6 to 7 in the early 1800's, after Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio were added to the union. It went to 9 in what, the 1830's? after a number of other states were added. In the 1860's, after California was added, the Supreme Court was enlarged to 10 justices. The Senate refused to fill any vacancies for Andrew Johnson, and after his term the membership was fixed at 9.

I don't have who is charge of what circuit in front of me, but as I recall, Anthony Kennedy of CA has the AL-FL-GA circuit. I assume lawyers are expected to be familiar with legal issues all around the country today so perhaps the need for geographic balance is gone.

On the other hand, certain senators or blocks thereof may be able to get nominees confirmed, so it may be worth appealing to geography.