Senate Democratic Minority leader has proposed several names of 4 moderate Republican Senators, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mel Martinez of Florida, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Mike Crapo of Idaho, as candidates for the (so far) non-vacancy on the Supreme Court, adding that they were bright and able lawyers who would make outstanding justices. It is difficult to know what is the stranger spectacle--a minority party leader publicly offering such advice to the President of the opposing party, or suggesting Red State moderates whose removal from the Senate would undoubtedly make way for reliably right-wingers to be appointed by their respective Red state governors!

Reid, moreover, pointed out that 10 justices have come from the Senate over the years. The past hardly offers reassurance on this score. With the towering exception of Hugo Black, the Senators who have been raised to the High Court in the 20th Century (e.g. Harold Burton and Sherman Minton) have had relatively brief and undistinguished careers on the Court, and in the case of James Byrnes, the most distinguished of the crowd, quickly escaped. If we go by the similarly limited vistas of the 20th century, state governors (Frank Murphy, Earl Warren) are a more reliable bet.

David Lion Salmanson - 6/30/2005

Can I get a shout out for Frank Murphy, civil libertarian extraordinaire?

Oscar Chamberlain - 6/29/2005

I seem to remember periodic suggestions in the 1960s and 1970s that justices with a political background might bring a better, more practical understanding of how court decisions impact government to the bench. There could be something to that.

Probably, the greatest downside of appointing a politician--whether senator or governor-- would be the risk that such a justice would too dependent upon his staff for the nuances of appelate work. Thinking about that, it could be a governor's greater experience with administration and delegation that have made them stronger justices.

Jason Kuznicki - 6/29/2005

I applaud the decision. "Advice and consent" should be taken as literally as possible, and for most of our history we have had only the latter.

Ralph E. Luker - 6/29/2005

I suppose that Reid's point is to urge the President to head off a battle of major proportions by consulting the opposition ahead of time and that a fellow Senator is likely to be treated gingerly in confirmation, but surely he doesn't mean that either Crapo or Martinez would be distinguished appointments. Was he laughing when he said it?