Shouldn't a judge's major qualification be impartiality?

[librechik]

Doesn't all this blatant "she'll vote the right way, trust me" stuff just illuminate that Miers is "bought?" Why is this a good thing? Why is this issue being ignored in the discourse? In fact the right is outraged that she might not be "bought" enough!

How far our democracy has slipped away.

[cassiepriam]

1. Qualifications for holding office? Next you will want free elections too.

[mike_c]

2. not necessarily-- the law is certainly not impartial....

Judges interpret the law in the context of individual circumstances, and since everyone brings their own frame of reference to the table that will always be a somewhat biased process. That's why it's important to select judges whose biases are not too far out of step with the broader consensus of expectations held by the society they serve, as well as judges with deep understanding of the law and its historical application from a social perspective. The "intent of the law" is a reference to a history of human interactions, disputes, and consensus about how those disputes are best resolved. I think maybe it's better to say that a judge should be "fair" rather than impartial, and that a judge's partiality should reflect the central values of the society he or she serves.

on edit-- the danger in appointing someone like Miers to the court is that she was chosen precisely because her frame of reference is extreme-- she is an attempt to manipulate the the "mean" response of the court, for want of a better term.

[MrBenchley]

3. That's why it's so enlightening to America

to hear right wingers howl that they're worried Harriet will be impartial...

The drama is not sitting will with most Americans...

[justgamma]

4. Trust Shrub?

From everything I've heard and read about her so far, it sounds like she will call Dubya to ask him how she should rule. I heard it said that she will rule the way he wants.

[MrBenchley]

6. Right wingers sure don't trust the incompetent drunk....

and are howling in rage, too....

Do you think the country would be better off if Owens or Brown had been nominated?

[Sapphire Blue]

5. That's what I thought... but then, I believe in justice, too.