Did ya know all SCOTUS's were Pub appointed except 2?

[napi21]

ANother poster was talking aobut the age of Stevens and how many appointments might occir under the next Presidency. I decided to look it up.

Rehenquist is 80 Nixon
Stevent is 84 Ford
O'Connor is 74 Reagan
Scalia is 68 Reagan
Kennedy is 68 Reagan
Souter is 65 Bush I
Thomas is 56 Bush I
Ginsberg is 71 Clinton
Breyer is 66 Clinton

I must admit, I didn't realize 7 of the 9 were appointed by Pubs. It's amazing anything reasonably fair comes out of that court!

The next very important thing is to look at the age of these folks! This is another point we Dems HAVE to yell from the roof tops! Can you imagine the judges that would be appointed by Shrub????

I can see the United States Theocracy now!

[PragMantisT]

1. Not a single Carter appointee!

That's some BS!

Nine is not a sacred number; it is more of a gentleman's agreement. Kerry should increase the number of justices to 17 and load up with liberals.

[Tina H]

5. Be careful . . .

you may be compromising your position if Bush is the one who decides to give court packing another try.

(FDR had previously tried it with mixed success; GOOGLE: "switch in time that saved nine.")

[Tina H]

2. I had the same reaction to . . .

the same other thread. I am not sure I draw all the same conclusions you do, but, then I am not too sure what my conclusions are at all regarding this apparent anomaly.

possible conclusions:

- some of the past Republican appointments have been decent to great.

- politicization of the process may have come back to bite the Democratic Party. I am no fan of Bork, but the Supreme Court and its appointment process might have been a better, less-partisan mechanism back in the pre-Bork days when Ford appointed Stevens or when Reagan appointed O'Connor. now there is no room for a President from either of the major parties to nominate a justice who is ideologically distinct from the Party Line.

- I kind of like the current Supreme Court except for the fact that the decision in Bush v. Gore was *totally, totally* inexcusable, so no, on second thought, I don't like the current Supreme Court at all..

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Excellent post.

Edit to add: Upon further reflection, it's eerily reminiscent of the ages of Cardinals and Pope(s).

[rock]

4. Thank God, during Kerry's two terms

a lot of them will die off.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. It'll be at least 15 years before this group is blown out.