Should race/gender/etc. play any role in a court nomination?

[Hatman 🍁]

An accident of birth should not and does not make anyone anymore qualified to be a judge

It's not about the birth, it's about what happens after birth. Men and women both face different realities throughout their lives, and both should be reflected equally on the supreme court.

[MODU]

An accident of birth should not and does not make anyone anymore qualified to be a judge

It's not about the birth, it's about what happens after birth. Men and women both face different realities throughout their lives, and both should be reflected equally on the supreme court.

I go back to what I had said earlier.  30 years ago, law was a different field that it is today.  The entering "class" of lawyers were prodimantly white males, and todays Supreme court mirrors that.  As time passes, the image of the court will change as equally qualified women and minorities rise up the ranks and compete directly with the white male.  Trying to force that diversity now, choosing a genetic trait over a more-qualified individual, does nothing but hurt the country in the long run.

[Hatman 🍁]

An accident of birth should not and does not make anyone anymore qualified to be a judge

It's not about the birth, it's about what happens after birth. Men and women both face different realities throughout their lives, and both should be reflected equally on the supreme court.

I go back to what I had said earlier.  30 years ago, law was a different field that it is today.  The entering "class" of lawyers were prodimantly white males, and todays Supreme court mirrors that.  As time passes, the image of the court will change as equally qualified women and minorities rise up the ranks and compete directly with the white male.  Trying to force that diversity now, choosing a genetic trait over a more-qualified individual, does nothing but hurt the country in the long run.

There are plenty of qualified women I am sure. Canada has 4 women on the bench, and one of them is chief justice. If we can do it, I can't see why the US, which has 10 times the population cant.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's not about the birth, it's about what happens after birth.

I don't quite understand that. People don't choose to become male or female do they? Surely whether someone is male or female is an accident of birth isn't? If not, what is it?

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So do black people and white people. Shall we have racial quotas too? How about religion? class? region? ethnic background? political leanings? sports teams? eye colour?

[Hatman 🍁]

It's not about the birth, it's about what happens after birth.

I don't quite understand that. People don't choose to become male or female do they? Surely whether someone is male or female is an accident of birth isn't? If not, what is it?

No, but society shapes them due to their genders. It is their experience in that degree that is needed on the supreme court.

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So do black people and white people. Shall we have racial quotas too? How about religion? class? region? ethnic background? political leanings? sports teams? eye colour?
[/quote]

Due to the racial nature of the U.S., there should probably be a black person or two on the supreme court. Obviously most of the rest you have mentioned have nothing to do with what will effect someone on the bench.

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[Jake]

Religion affects how they rule on church/state issues, political leanings on how they vote on stuff like Bush v. Gore, class on how they'd vote on removing welfare, ethnic background as much as race.

[Gabu]

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So do black people and white people. Shall we have racial quotas too? How about religion? class? region? ethnic background? political leanings? sports teams? eye colour?

Due to the racial nature of the U.S., there should probably be a black person or two on the supreme court. Obviously most of the rest you have mentioned have nothing to do with what will effect someone on the bench.
[/quote]

Well, here are some breakdowns of the population of the United States:

Sex
Male: 49%
Female: 51%

So, we'll have 5 females and 4 males.

Ethnicity
White: 69.2%
Black: 12.9%
Hispanic: 12.5%
Asian: 4.2%
Amerindian and Alaska native: 1%
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander: 0.2%

So, now we'll have 3 white females, 1 Hispanic female, 1 black female, 3 white males, and 1 Asian male, just as a representative of the "other" group.

Religion
Protestant: 52%
Roman Catholic: 24%
Mormon: 2%
Jewish: 1%
Muslim: 1%

Now our court is composed of 2 white Protestant females, 1 white Roman Catholic female, 1 Hispanic Protestant female, 1 black Protestant female, 2 white Protestant males, 1 Asian Roman Catholic male, and 1 white Mormon male, as a representative of the "other" group.

Sexual Orientation (estimated)
Heterosexual: 95%
Homosexual: 5%
Other: (likely close enough to 0% with rounding to be negligible)

So, our final ideal court composition is as follows:

1 white heterosexual Protestant female
1 white homosexual Protestant female
1 Hispanic heterosexual Protestant female
1 white heterosexual Roman Catholic female
1 black heterosexual Protestant female
2 white heterosexual Protestant males
1 white heterosexual Mormon male
1 Asian heterosexual Roman Catholic male

...and now we have to ask ourselves: is all this really necessary, or would it be better just to look at how good a judge the person is?

[John Dibble]

An accident of birth should not and does not make anyone anymore qualified to be a judge

It's not about the birth, it's about what happens after birth. Men and women both face different realities throughout their lives, and both should be reflected equally on the supreme court.

And yet none of that changes what the Constitution says.

[Hatman 🍁]

An accident of birth should not and does not make anyone anymore qualified to be a judge

It's not about the birth, it's about what happens after birth. Men and women both face different realities throughout their lives, and both should be reflected equally on the supreme court.

And yet none of that changes what the Constitution says.

Oh please, judges will always rule with bias. Until every judge agrees on everything, your point is mute.

[KillerPollo]

Women should not belong in politics... they belong in the kitchen!!!

[??????????]

Women should not belong in politics... they belong in the kitchen!!!

To quote Opebo : "Chill you intolerant wetback."

[Filuwaúrdjan]

No, but society shapes them due to their genders.

Society shapes people in all kinds of ways over all kinds of things. I've never understood why gender is usually considered to be a special case.

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Why?
I'm sure that the views and outlook of a male lawyer would have more in common with a female lawyer than a  merchant seaman, electrician or builder.

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Purely because he's black (like the current one)?

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Sure some of them don't, but some clearly do. Seems as good a time as any to bring up something Sir Peter Soulsby said in the recent Commons debate over the Religious Hatred bill:

"At the heart of the hon. Gentleman's argument is the assertion that a person's religious belief is, in many respects, very similar to that person's political belief or this example was given earlier his or her support for a football club. Does he accept that many people's religious beliefs are much more fundamental than their political beliefs, or even their support for football clubs? Are not those beliefs fundamentally connected to their family, culture and heritage? Indeed, in many cases their religious beliefs are even more fundamental to their sense of identity than their race"

And again from the U.K this is the result of a recent poll on religion and all that:



So why shouldn't religious background be a factor if gender and race are? Not PC?

[John Dibble]

An accident of birth should not and does not make anyone anymore qualified to be a judge

It's not about the birth, it's about what happens after birth. Men and women both face different realities throughout their lives, and both should be reflected equally on the supreme court.

And yet none of that changes what the Constitution says.

Oh please, judges will always rule with bias. Until every judge agrees on everything, your point is mute.

There are unbiased judges, believe it or not. And if your logic is that we need different biases, then that's a completely stupid reason to have 'variety' in the court - you can have 9 white guys with different biases, after all.

EDIT - by the way: foot in mouth

Because we need judges to interpret law, of course. They should all be unbiased; neither conservative nor liberal, and they should represent the general population.

[Hatman 🍁]

Of course we need a court without bias, but you forget inherent bias that may be less obvious and is created by socialization. Everyone has in, no matter who you are.

As for appointing people based on religion, while it may be nice, it should never be mandatory because of the separation of church and state.

[John Dibble]

Of course we need a court without bias, but you forget inherent bias that may be less obvious and is created by socialization. Everyone has in, no matter who you are.

Which is why we have nine judges. You can get different biases withing the same race and sex, you know.

[Hatman 🍁]

Of course we need a court without bias, but you forget inherent bias that may be less obvious and is created by socialization. Everyone has in, no matter who you are.

Which is why we have nine judges. You can get different biases withing the same race and sex, you know.

Of course, but not inherent "gendered bias"

[John Dibble]

Of course we need a court without bias, but you forget inherent bias that may be less obvious and is created by socialization. Everyone has in, no matter who you are.

Which is why we have nine judges. You can get different biases withing the same race and sex, you know.

Of course, but not inherent "gendered bias"

I don't believe such a thing inherently exists.

[they don't love you like i love you]

That poll is rather suprising to me, first that an overwhelming majority agrees in a rather secular country, and that a plurality of those with no religion do.