If confirmed Obama's nominee will take the sting out of the Supreme Court

[rpannier]

There won't be any WASP's on the Court

6 Catholic
3 Jewish

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. *facepalm*

It took me a minute, but I got it!

:rofl:

[Skittles]

2. scheduling Ms. Peggy for ass kicking

took me a minute too but you? Egregious.

[Hardrada]

3. O grave, where is thy victory?

[Xipe Totec]

4. Republicans almost turned the Supreme Court into the Vatican on the Potomac

Court Could Tip to Catholic Majority
Some Say Slant Is Dangerous; Others See Historic Victory

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 7, 2005


Why have recent Republican presidents turned again and again to Catholic jurists when making appointments to the Supreme Court? It may be partly an effort to woo Catholic voters, but mostly it's because so many of the brightest stars in the conservative legal firmament are Catholics, several scholars said.

Gillman believes that beginning in the 1960s, many conservative Catholics went into the legal profession "because they felt the constitutional jurisprudence of the country was not reflecting their values," particularly on abortion, funding for parochial schools and restrictions on religion in public places. "I think you're seeing the fruits of those efforts now," he said.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/06/AR2005110601134.html

[Xipe Totec]

5. An article on Jesuitical vs. Talmudic reasoning

To characterize a lie as an "economy of truth" would be a Jesuitical formulation. To say that one had smoked marijuana but did not inhale would be a Jesuitical distinction. (Bill Clinton received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, a Jesuit school.) William Safire argues that "Jesuitical" has by now developed a sense devoid of any overtones of prevarication: "subtle, intricate, moralistic reasoning, informed by a rigorous logic" is his definition. I am not as sanguine as Safire, and believe that using the word will always carry some slight risk: It may be wielded as a slur and received as a compliment, or vice versa.

"Talmudic" carries none of this baggage. The Talmud, with its commentaries on the Torah and its commentaries on the commentaries (the process goes on and on) cannot be faulted for using guile to arrive at a congenial "truth." But the word has its own negative connotations. Talmudic scholarship is famous for the tortuous and painstaking manner in which truth is pursued and established--if it can be established at all. It is assumed by Talmudic scholars that the language of the Talmud is precise, and that each word is therefore of surpassing significance. As a result, even infinitesimal details are treated with the utmost seriousness. Also, while Talmudic scholarship is sometimes aimed at practical affairs (for instance, civil and criminal law, dietary laws, the status of women), it also considers issues that have no practical application at all, and sometimes delves into matters that may seem utterly fanciful.

http://www.slate.com/id/3164