John Yoo will be the next GOP Supreme Court Nominee

[Fergasun]

With what looks like the fait accompil nomination of Elena Kagan, it appears that we have tread new ground with Supreme Court nominees. One can now become a nominee having spent a majority of time in government working as a political adviser. Elena Kagan's record from the White House deeply troubled me. However, her record wasn't much of a factor or concern for either party. In fact, I think the GOP did an exceptionally weak job at opposing her or bringing out my concerns.

So now I make a prediction for the next GOP Supreme Court nominee. They will nominate John Yoo, as the first Asian Supreme Court Justice. Yoo has excellent legal credentials, like Kagan; has written 3 books, and is a law professor. He clerked for Justice Thomas, and was general counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has eminent credentials as a law professor at UCB.

There is now no reason for Democrats to raise any complaint, should Yoo be nominated to the Supreme Court in the future (he'll be 50 in 2017).

[JMS]

Yoo will never ever become a Supreme Court justice. Never, Ever... EVER.

Why? Because the man is without morals or principle and has been exposed as someone who also lacks respect for the law. Yoo, like Bork; was a credentialed man, who got good grades in school. Problem is without the respect of your peers, that's not enough to sell yourself as someone who has an opinion that matters. Yoo, as Bork before him used their understanding of the law to twist it against any reasonable interpretations that the writers of the laws would recognize. This in an effort to curt favor with misguided Presidents.

Bork did so with Nixon.... Nixon told his attorney general (Elliot L. Richardson ) to fire the special prosecutor (Archibald Cox) investigating Watergate. When he refused Nixon fired him, and hired a second man (Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus) who also refused and was fired. then Nixon hired Bork, who fired Archibald Cox as his first official act in office. Disgraceful... an act of corruption so blatant that nobody on the right or left could stomach them..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...s/102173-2.htm


Yoo's offenses were equally disgraceful. Writing a legal opinion to change the popular interpretation of the word torture to circumvent the Law. Then crafting out how illegal his first opinion was, and how the administration could defend themselves against future imminent legal challenges once out of office and out of power by claiming ignorance.... Then the idiot put the entire thing in a memo so crass that it was leaked to the press and blew up in his face along with his attorney generals.

Nobody needs a Supreme Court justice intent on pandering to the powers that be. Nobody. Not the right or the left. That's why Yoo will never reach the court and is lucky he had Tenure at Berkley before he went into politics or he wouldn't even have that job. It's also why Bork lost his shot at the court which once seemed like such a sure thing.

Kagan's record as associate white house council wasn't brought up all that much because she didn't write all that many controversial opionions. She certainly didn't give a legal opinion that she could ignore the United States Laws she didn't like, or overturn 100 years of precedent.
Fact is Kagan as Dean of Harvard was a Republican conservative darling. As a moderate she recognized there were too many liberals at Harvard, and led a charge to recruit conservatives to balance the scales... well more balance the scales anyway. Republicans loved her for that.
It's hard to light fire to folks who you think would do a decent job on the bench just because it's politically expedient.... Bush did that kind of stuff, and the country took note and punished the GOP for it.

[Thiebear]

The GOP didnt fight it because their FU is weak.
She is qualified and she will answer the question correctly. Even if they released some of the documents?

Elections have consequences and President Obama has the right to appoint the supreme court justice.

IF this was a squishy replacing a neocon then there would be chaos!!! Chaos!

[DjTj]

There's a big difference between being a behind-the-scenes adviser in the Clinton White House and writing the most infamous government legal memo in recent history. Republicans would have to be idiots to try to nominate John Yoo.

...Bush did try to nominate someone from the exact same position as Kagan though - Harriet Miers was the White House Counsel when Bush nominated her for the Supreme Court. Rehnquist was probably the most political of recent Justices, having worked in the Goldwater campaign and coming to Washington to join Nixon's Justice Department before being nominated to the Supreme Court.

Politicians have always been eligible to be nominated to the Supreme Court, but you can't have a scandal like a torture memo hanging over your head.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

With what looks like the fait accompil nomination of Elena Kagan, it appears that we have tread new ground with Supreme Court nominees. One can now become a nominee having spent a majority of time in government working as a political adviser. Elena Kagan's record from the White House deeply troubled me. However, her record wasn't much of a factor or concern for either party. In fact, I think the GOP did an exceptionally weak job at opposing her or bringing out my concerns.

So now I make a prediction for the next GOP Supreme Court nominee. They will nominate John Yoo, as the first Asian Supreme Court Justice. Yoo has excellent legal credentials, like Kagan; has written 3 books, and is a law professor. He clerked for Justice Thomas, and was general counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has eminent credentials as a law professor at UCB.

There is now no reason for Democrats to raise any complaint, should Yoo be nominated to the Supreme Court in the future (he'll be 50 in 2017).

First of all, Ginsburg will retire before Obama is out so that another "liberal" is placed on the SC. Second of all, after that happens, I think it could very well be another 20 years until someone is replaced on the bench.

[Buford]

No ****ing way would Yoo even be suggested by the next Admin. The last thing they'd want is a connected to the Bush II years.

Might as well nominate Dick Cheney's head.

[Bliz]

With what looks like the fait accompil nomination of Elena Kagan, it appears that we have tread new ground with Supreme Court nominees. One can now become a nominee having spent a majority of time in government working as a political adviser. Elena Kagan's record from the White House deeply troubled me. However, her record wasn't much of a factor or concern for either party. In fact, I think the GOP did an exceptionally weak job at opposing her or bringing out my concerns.

So now I make a prediction for the next GOP Supreme Court nominee. They will nominate John Yoo, as the first Asian Supreme Court Justice. Yoo has excellent legal credentials, like Kagan; has written 3 books, and is a law professor. He clerked for Justice Thomas, and was general counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has eminent credentials as a law professor at UCB.

There is now no reason for Democrats to raise any complaint, should Yoo be nominated to the Supreme Court in the future (he'll be 50 in 2017).

This was not a very well-thought out post.

The only thing that Dems theoretically wouldn't be able to complain about would be the fact that he wasn't a judge. Everything else is fair game. I won't pile on, but like other said: torture memo, Harriet Myers, etc. Everyone has their own threshold to exceed.

"No reason to raise any complaint"? You couldn't be more wrong.

[JMS]

Might as well nominate Dick Cheney's head.

Cryogenically Perserved Head.

[Buford]

Cryogenically Perserved Head.

Close enough.

[greenspandan]

it's a nice fantasy, but this nomination doesn't give republicans any more future carte blanche than they would have assumed anyway.

historically, 41 of the 109 supreme court justices have had no prior experience as a judge. panic over that issue falls into two camps: GOP politicians cynically pandering to their base, and people who simply don't know better.

in addition, most supreme court judges DID hold political positions prior to their nomination, and the ones that were in private practice prior to their nomination were usually only there because their party was not in power.

elena kagan is in no way an unusual or risky nominee, or any kind of outlier. just look at how half-hearted the GOP opposition is. at the moment, the GOP is feeling much more emboldened than it has in several years, and yet they can't really muster any serious bluster here. if there was any raw meat, they'd be all over it.

[JMS]

Close enough.

I'd go a little darker....

[NoCalMike]

At first I read it as "John Woo" as in the Director John Woo. Haha.

But, yeah John Yoo would probably not be the best decision.

[Predicto]

elena kagan is in no way an unusual or risky nominee, or any kind of outlier. just look at how half-hearted the GOP opposition is. at the moment, the GOP is feeling much more emboldened than it has in several years, and yet they can't really muster any serious bluster here. if there was any raw meat, they'd be all over it.

This is the answer. The more histrionic parts of the GOP base have tried to make her nomination the crisis of the day, but it hasn't worked, because at the bottom line, she really isn't controversial at all.

The GOP understands this, and they know that her confirmation is a done deal. They are making the "constitutionalist" speeches and asking the questions that the Tea Partiers want to hear, but not actually trying to defeat the nomination.

[Fergasun]

All of you in an uproar over Yoo didn't look at Kagan's past. I don't object to what she did as White House Counsel; I object to the fact that she was a policy adviser. Of course, the fact that we just finished her hearings and no one made a peep about her job at the Clinton White House, which was the most interesting part of her record leaves me skeptical about the brainpower of Republicans. There were thousands upon thousands of documents to go through.

There were a number of issues to ask her about:
- Federalism, such as did she think that it would be okay to create a national nanny registry
- Her view that the Executive Branch could pre-empt states via Executive Order (later this was overturned in a 2006 Supreme Court case)
- Her role in the tobacco settlement and why she advised people in the White House to avoid calling "penalties" "look backs".

Finally, when discussing look-backs, Elena again stressed the need to call the look-back payments “surcharges” and not penalties. All members are urged to avoid the expression “penalties” in an attempt to preserve their long-term success in expected litigation.

My point in bringing up Yoo, is that if not Yoo than we'll get some other obscure Republican lawyer (how about the guy who authored the Patriot Act, Viet Dinh, he's qualified). And the left will have little right to complain about his background and his involvement in shadiness

I'd have been all for Obama nominating a judge, even the most "radical liberal activist" judge but to nominate a political insider, someone who is more of a political insider than anyone ever nominated to the Supreme Court... well, it's galling and deserves at least one person screaming about it like me. I even wouldn't have minded it if Kagan went on a lower circuit court... but to put her straight on the Supreme Court, and nary a complaint from anyone about her lack of experience.

[Predicto]

I'd have been all for Obama nominating a judge, even the most "radical liberal activist" judge but to nominate a political insider, someone who is more of a political insider than anyone ever nominated to the Supreme Court...

I'm not tring to be hostile, but you keep beating this drum and you really don't seem know what you are talking about. Go look up the background of Former Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He was the ultimate insider in the Nixon Administration. Or for that matter, look up former Chief Justice Earl Warren. He was the Governor of California.

A few years of legal service in a political role is not "shadiness," and has never been seen as a disqualification for anyone to a judicial position. That is why the GOP has not harped on it. Not because they wouldn't jump on any opportunity to oppose the nomination if they could.

And no matter how you cut it, the former Dean of Harvard Law School and current Solicitor General of the United States is not some "obscure" lawyer.