Judge Sykes
My favorite dark horse candidate for the Supreme Court has been talked about quite a bit today. Confirm Them has a post about her and her name has popped up a lot in the comments about Gonzales too. Here's my favorite comment:
I would love to see Judge Sykes on the Court. Not only because it would boost the name of MULS, but because she's a great judge. I've been very impressed with her opinions. I'd be very surprised if she was nominated now because of her relative lack of experience as a federal judge and her age. I think it's more likely that she would be nominated in a few years. She'd be a great replacement for Ginsburg or Stevens, and she would shift that vote firmly to the right. The interesting part of her nomination would be the reaction of our two senators. Both Kohl and Feingold gave Sykes glowing support when she was nominated for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The cynics among us (me included) think it was just to get her off of the WI Supreme Court and let Doyle appoint a much more liberal judge to replace her. And that's exactly what happened. Would the senators change their tune if President Bush wanted to give Judge Sykes a promotion?
Sykes only graduated from Marquette (1984), although she does have the advantage of appealing to the two Democrats from Wisconsin on the Judiciary committee.ONLY graduated from Marquette?! Ouch, that hurts. Someone else mentioned that Marquette is not exactly a prominent law school. It's true. We are no Harvard or Yale. But maybe that's a good thing. I think the Supreme Court could use more of variety as far as educational background. Maybe it's just my personal bias, but I think we non-Ivy Leaguers are a little less arrogant about our roles in judiciary. I think it has to do with getting by on our abilities and not on our big name school (Okay, this is mostly all personal bias and jealousy).
I would love to see Judge Sykes on the Court. Not only because it would boost the name of MULS, but because she's a great judge. I've been very impressed with her opinions. I'd be very surprised if she was nominated now because of her relative lack of experience as a federal judge and her age. I think it's more likely that she would be nominated in a few years. She'd be a great replacement for Ginsburg or Stevens, and she would shift that vote firmly to the right. The interesting part of her nomination would be the reaction of our two senators. Both Kohl and Feingold gave Sykes glowing support when she was nominated for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The cynics among us (me included) think it was just to get her off of the WI Supreme Court and let Doyle appoint a much more liberal judge to replace her. And that's exactly what happened. Would the senators change their tune if President Bush wanted to give Judge Sykes a promotion?
