Ric, I had a very different reaction to the photo. The description of Biden's victory in preventing Judge Bork from joining the Supreme Court brought back strikingly discordant memories, far distant from yours. My memories are of grief.
A lifelong liberal, I was proud of the Supreme Court which voted unanimously in Brown v Board of Education to overturn Plessy v Ferguson and end school desegregation. The Court, then all men, had been recommended by the Judicial Committee in the Senate and then overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining the bench. Not one of them had been asked a single question during hearings about his attitudes toward racial segregation in school, not even Justice Black, who had been a member of the KKK. All had been evaluated solely on their ability to judge.
The same occurred in Mapp v Ohio, which completed the extension of the Bill of Rights to the States. Not a single judge in that decision had been questioned about his opinion on the applicability of the Bill of Rights to the states during confirmation hearings.
In 1972 the Supreme Court ruled abortion a constitutional right; not a single justice had been asked about a personal opinion on abortion before confirmation. They had all been evaluated solely on their ability to judge.
Come the Bork nomination, and fleeting contemporary matters of interest to various groups were placed ahead of ability to judge, which to date had produced results most liberals would applaud. Joe Biden was the man who upended nearly two centuries of non-partisan agreement about the role of SCOTUS Justices. From that event we can draw a straight line through to today in overturning centuries of agreement on otherwise divisive issues.
Today we lament the inability of congress to do anything in a non-partisan manner, and blame both sides and a lot of individuals for the divide. One man's need for temporary and fleeting political advantage is responsible for the rancor and deadlock in Congress today. That man is Joe Biden, who was elected on a pledge of unifying the country. Given his history and culpability in sowing acrimonious division, why did anyone believe him, why does anyone continue to believe him?
You have a lot to say. I see a book in your future.
Ric, I had a very different reaction to the photo. The description of Biden's victory in preventing Judge Bork from joining the Supreme Court brought back strikingly discordant memories, far distant from yours. My memories are of grief.
A lifelong liberal, I was proud of the Supreme Court which voted unanimously in Brown v Board of Education to overturn Plessy v Ferguson and end school desegregation. The Court, then all men, had been recommended by the Judicial Committee in the Senate and then overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining the bench. Not one of them had been asked a single question during hearings about his attitudes toward racial segregation in school, not even Justice Black, who had been a member of the KKK. All had been evaluated solely on their ability to judge.
The same occurred in Mapp v Ohio, which completed the extension of the Bill of Rights to the States. Not a single judge in that decision had been questioned about his opinion on the applicability of the Bill of Rights to the states during confirmation hearings.
In 1972 the Supreme Court ruled abortion a constitutional right; not a single justice had been asked about a personal opinion on abortion before confirmation. They had all been evaluated solely on their ability to judge.
Come the Bork nomination, and fleeting contemporary matters of interest to various groups were placed ahead of ability to judge, which to date had produced results most liberals would applaud. Joe Biden was the man who upended nearly two centuries of non-partisan agreement about the role of SCOTUS Justices. From that event we can draw a straight line through to today in overturning centuries of agreement on otherwise divisive issues.
Today we lament the inability of congress to do anything in a non-partisan manner, and blame both sides and a lot of individuals for the divide. One man's need for temporary and fleeting political advantage is responsible for the rancor and deadlock in Congress today. That man is Joe Biden, who was elected on a pledge of unifying the country. Given his history and culpability in sowing acrimonious division, why did anyone believe him, why does anyone continue to believe him?