Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Justice

Well the big news is Bush's nomination of John Roberts as the new Supreme Court Justice. Everyone keeps asking me how I feel about it and I have to say I really don't know this guy. Regardless of that, I had a thought that was brought up today on Juan Cole's site, and it really is a good point, why didn't he nominate a woman? I mean any federal judge in any state or any state supreme court justice or even federal or state level prosecutors can be nominated as justice and instead of chooses one of the many fine women in that position, Bush chose the guy he fought to get on the DC appellate court only 2 years ago. I guess my questions are these: Is this man experienced enough as a judge?(keep in mind his prior positions have been as a lawyer, not a judge) Is he being truthful in his claims that he will defend the current laws including Roe v. Wade and not push conservative politics from the bench? And finally, is it right to reduce the number of women in the Supreme Court back to zero given that O'Conner's position on the bench has helped many pro-woman decisions that this country so desperately needs?
Juan Cole raises another point on his blog that goes further than this last point. If you take note of the policies that the administration is supporting in Iraq right now, you'll see that this administration in depth has been largely anti-woman. Currently they are considering putting a provision in the Iraqi constitution that puts any personal status laws(marriage, inheritance, divorce) under the jurisdiction of local religious judges. If this were to take place, than a woman's place in this new Iraq would definately be placed on the low end. Strict interperatation could lead to given women only half of a man's credibility in court, allow for temporary spousal contracts, prevent women from defending themselves against rape and preventing them from divorcing their husbands. He also suggests some issues in America with the trend towards the "Culture of Life" crap we keep hearing. I think it's a bit of a stretch, but it's a good point to note that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, any state that adopts a blanket no abortion policy without exception(which seems to be the way they want it) will have the ability to force rape victims to have the children of their rapists. In fact it could be determined that while a convicted rapist deserves to pay for his crimes, a woman threatening to abort the child could be sued by the rapist and forced to create a non-marital parental partnership with the father in order to raise the child in the interests of both parents. Sounds like a load of horseshit possibilities, but what's scary is that it could happen.

1 comment:

Dr 4LOM said...

Well call me what you want. I think it's stupid in this day and age to have a body of judges with the task of keeping all laws constitutional as well as deciding on precedents that affect the entire country without having a woman's point of view. I also think it's stupid for a president that is tanking on popularity to not take the opportunity to show that he's not just another white asshole trying to get as many of his boy's club cronies in high position. I don't know Edith Clement any more than I know John Roberts, but I'd much rather be researching a seasoned female judge from New Orleans than some white guy who's only been a judge for two years. Who belongs on the SCOTUS? I don't know specifically, but I do know that the president should appoint justices that are experienced, trustworthy, and fairly non-biased. And personally, I think the SCOTUS should reflect the people of the country, and women play a much larger role in this country then they did even twenty years ago, and the highest court in the land should contain at least three female justices in my opinion. If that be sexist, well I'm sexist, but at least I'm not saying kill all the brown men or leave the women to clean up after their men. That would be a much greater atrocity I think.