The Supreme Court Nomination

I remember an interesting conversation I had with friend's family. It took place before the 2008 presidential election. The father expressed his view that he would be voting Republican mostly because he wanted conservative judges to be appointed to the supreme court.

I thought this was interesting. I guess I had never really factored that into my vote for president. Maybe it is because I wear these rose colored glasses that believes the supreme court acts impartially and makes it judgments based on precedent and what's in the constitution.

However, maybe this view is not so rose colored. Now I am not an expert on the Supreme Court, but I feel like there is an incredible respect for the constitution among the judges. In addition, I feel like it is extremely, exorbitantly, and remarkably rare that the Supreme Court drastically changes moral or social values.

So how much does the Supreme Court nomination's political affiliation matter to me? I guess it ranks low, unless I had reason for concern.

On a second note, I am actually pretty excited about Sotomayor mostly because President Obama picked her. Why? Because of this introductory paragraph from a NY times article about the Sotomayor nomination:

When talking about the Supreme Court, Barack Obama has resisted the familiar ideological categories that have defined our judicial battles for the past several decades. He has made clear that despite his progressive inclinations, he is not a 1960s-style, Warren Court liberal — someone who believes that the justices should boldly define constitutional rights in an effort to bring about social change. It’s true that Obama has cited Chief Justice Earl Warren as a judicial ideal, emphasizing that Warren, a former governor of California, had a sensitive understanding of the real-world effects of Supreme Court decisions. But at the same time, Obama has suggested that liberals in the Warren Court mold may have placed too much trust in the courts and not enough in political activism. “I wondered,” he writes in his book “The Audacity of Hope,” alluding to Senate battles over George W. Bush’s court appointments, “if in our reliance on the courts to vindicate not only our rights but also our values, progressives had lost too much faith in democracy.”

President Obama has an excellent grasp on what the court's role should be. Let's not forget that before his presidential career he taught constitutional law! So I'm excited for who ever he nominates. I know this sounds dumb but... President Obama is awesome.