THE ACTIVISTS DON'T CARE ABOUT EFFECTIVENESS:

Obama philosophy of influence puts him at odds with base on court nominee (Jon Ward, 5/05/10, The Daily Caller)

President Obama’s is at odds with his Democratic base on who he should pick to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Obama wants to put a politician on the court — or rather, he wants a jurist with political skills: the ability to get in a room (a court room, a back room) with the other justices, be likable, impressive and persuasive and win their vote.

“It’s very important that the president select somebody who can be persuasive with the other justices,” said Susan Liss, of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. [...]

However, many among the president’s base want a liberal flame-thrower, not a lefty known for being liked by conservatives. All of the four names on the current short list – Diane Wood, Elena Kagan, Merrick Garland and Sidney Thomas – fit the second bill.

Intellectuals, for obvious reasons, believe that the brilliance of an opinion matters, as if a sufficiently bright argument were going to makr the outher justices yield to superior wisdom. The reality is that a great justice like William Brennan was perfectly willing to sign onto a moronic opinion if that meant the justice writing it would vote with him. The law is changed by the worst-reasoned case law, not the best.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 6, 2010 5:46 AM