Would you support Lieberman for the Supreme Court?

[CMT]

I've heard this from some quarter, that Joe Lieberman would be open to an appointment to TSCOUS. Now lets assume we get a Democratic president and one of the Justices retires. The Senate is in GOP hands, and their hopping mad because their boy George was kicked out of office. You need to get the nomination through the Senate because it is one of the first big tests of your leadership.

Lieberman's name is presented to you by your chief Legal councel and the Attorney General as a good "compromise" candidate. He is popular in the Senate and gets along with both GOP and Democratic Senators. If Lieberman is nominated it would be generally easy sailing.

Pluses of a Lieberman appointment:
1) Domestically, Lieberman has a generally liberal record
2) He is solidly behind Abortion Rights.
3) He is solid on the environment
4) He is intelligent enough to handle Scalia.
5) It would get him out of the Senate.
6) It would be a sence of poetic justice appointing a man to the court that was denied the vice presidency due to a SC decision. (Though a Gore appointment would be an even more delicious example. Hmm, that is a thought!!)

Minuses of a Lieberman appointment:
1) It would get him out of the Senate--one less Democrat.
2) While he is Jewish, his appointment would not represent the type of diversity needed on the court that the appointment of a racial minority or a woman (who is also a racial minority) would satisfy.
3) He would probably, overall, be a moderate on the court like the two Clinton appointees have turned out--when the court is crying out for a true liberal in the Douglas/Black tradition as a counterbalance to Scalia/Thomas. (Though on this count I actually think Joe would be slightly to the left of Ginsburg and Breyer).

All in all, would you support Joe Lieberman becoming a Supreme Court Justice?

[Alexander]

1. I supported him for Vice-President,

Meaning if Gore ended up in the White House and died, that he would be president. I don't see why not, even though I'm liking him less and less these days.

[Powerlock]

22. I didn't see anything wrong with him in 2000

Now I see him as just another repub advancing the agenda.

[HFishbine]

2. Lieberman, no. Gore, yes. (nt)

[david_vincent]

3. No, but

I'd be downright enthusiastic to see Wendell Berry on the Supreme Court.

[saltpoint]

6. Yes -- Wendell Berry --

--is a national treasure. A great voice for truth, and a great poet also.

[JasonDeter]

4. HeHeHaHaHooHooHaaHaaHeeHeeHoooHoooHaaaHaaa!

Stop your killing me!!
Not even dogcatcher!

[Saudade]

5. Kidding?

Is Lieberman even a lawyer?

[tedoll78]

7. If Bush were doing the nominating..

yes. Easily, I'd take a Lieberman over a Scalia.

If our next Democratic president were doing the nominating, I would hold-out for a better nominee.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

19. tedoll78 i concur

[dansolo]

8. Lieberman is far too ideological

I don't care what his record is, I don't trust him to abide by the Constitution and the rule of law, especially in cases where the laws may be in conflict with his "moral" views.

[ET Awful]

9. I wouldn't support Lieberman for dog catcher at this point.

[wryter2000]

10. Freedom of Religion

He doesn't believe in freedom of religion for non-believers. I'd support him for some cabinet positions, but not any sort of federal court.

[PretzelzRule]

11. absolutely not

anyone who says that I can't have freedom from religion should not be in a position of such power.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hlthe2b]

16. I don't think so .... graduated Yale law school is all I know..

eom

[ButterflyBlood]

13. no

go with Gore. Lieberman should be put in some position such as ambassador to Mongolia.

[patricia92243]

14. The Democratic vacancy he leaves in Senate can be filled by another Dem

[goobergunch]

23. Connecticut has a Repub governor (n/t)

[mazzarro]

15. This claim does not fly with me:

4) He is intelligent enough to handle Scalia.

Lieberman was not that effective in handling Cheney in the 2000 election debate, I have my doubts that he can handle Scalia argumentatively.

[Hippo_Tron]

17. I wouldn't put politicians on the court...

I'd go with a well respected long serving state judge.

[elfin]

18. Voted yes, with the reservation

that he recuse himself from all "faith" based cases. Otherwise he is smart and firly progressive. I am assuming he would be a choice of a Repug administration hence more palatable than other potential choices- no Dem would do it.

[LeahMira]

21. Does he have the credentials?

Other than the fact that he attended law school, I really don't know. He has not served as a Judge on any lower court, has he? I would imagine there are plenty of people whose backgrounds would put them in a better position for the job, but I wouldn't have any real complaints if Lieberman were appointed.

with the reservation... that he recuse himself from all "faith" based cases.

I don't know about that reservation of yours. As a person who is Jewish, Lieberman understands the position of someone whose beliefs are in the minority. This stuff about the U.S. being "Judeo-Christian" is strange to those of us who are Jewish because Jews and Christians, although we agree on any number of issues (and disagree on others), come to our conclusions from a very different set of assumptions. I would imagine that Lieberman is aware of this, and that he is also capable of understanding that atheists ir some of the groups that we call "pagan" include very fine people who live quite moral lives although we don't espouse Christian dogmas and teachings.

The only place where I would have any concerns would be in the matter of public funding for religious schools. While many, if not most Jews understand the separation of church and state issues involved, others who struggle financially to send their children to Hebrew school see the extra money as entirely too tempting, IMO. Already religious schools have access to a lot of the services that public schools use at taxpayer expense. We need to be very cautious in any consideration about expanding access to public funds by private institutions.

[liberalnurse]

20. We did not have time during Election 2000

to see who the real Joe was.....Secondly, we trusted Al Gore. Now we know who the real Joe is and thankfully, so does Al Gore. It appears he really didn't know how Joe pulled right......and you know the rest of the story.

[goobergunch]

24. Voted against, with reservations

I'd basically try to get the most liberal nominee through that has 60 votes behind him/her.

Also, it depends whether it's the Rehnquist, O'Connor, or Stevens seat. I would support Lieberman for the Rehnquist seat.