Over at Hot Air they are discussing rumors of Justice Stevens being in ill health and who would be appointed to replace him on the court.
Here are some qualities I would like to see in the next Supreme Court Justice:
- No record or history of supporting or citing foreign case law in US courts
- A constitutional originalist (for the most part)
- An unusually (for judges/justices) strong background in the sciences and technology
Society is being changed at an increasing rate by sciences and technologies. It would be nice to have a justice with some expertise in that area.
How about somebody who has served as a current or past:
- NSF counsel (or NIST, NASA,the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, a major public or private research lab, or something like that)
- House or Senate science committee counsel at some point
- Law Prof who has served as chancellor/dean/provost/president at a major public or private research university
How about a scientist with a law degree?
At least somebody with an undergrad or grad degree in sciences or engineering would be nice!
RSS
Your third criterion generally rules out the previous two, doesn’t it? We got Breyer already — former agency counsel, former Senate committee counsel, experience in science issues, Law Prof — but people who fit that mold tend to understand that there is no reason to void most of U.S. law for some bizarre disaffectation with “foreign” law.
By: edarrell on November 5, 2006
at 8:32 pm
I am thinking someone very science-y…I guess I should have put that first.
By: purpleslog on November 5, 2006
at 10:06 pm