Whoever President Obama nominates to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court will be on a kamikaze mission. Republicans in the Senate have already made it clear that they have zero intention of ever letting Obama appoint Scalia’s replacement, going so far as to promise that they won’t even hold a hearing on the nominee. The excuse is dressed up with a historical fig leaf, but the hard reality is that an Obama appointee would mean the end of the conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
The list of potential nominee is long and, as might be expect, distinguished. Not that any of that matters to the Republican majority in the Senate.
With virtually no chance that his nominee will even get a vote, Obama really has nothing to lose. So why not go for a bold choice: a Latina lesbian.
Monica Márquez has been a justice on the Colorado Supreme Court since 2010. She has a CV that makes her a credible candidate. As a graduate of Yale Law School, she has the requisite Ivy League credential. She clerked for two federal judges. She has worked for Republicans, earning praise from her onetime boss, former Colorado Attorney General John Suthers. Before she went to law school, she spent two years working with at-risk children in Camden, N.J., and Philadelphia.
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Under normal circumstances, Márquez would be considered a few career steps away from the top bench. A federal court appointment is the usual route for Supreme Court nominees.
But the current situation is far from normal. The nomination is going to be a political statement about what matters to Obama and a thumb in the eye to Republicans. Why not go as bold as possible?
In fact, Márquez brings some advantages to the process. A Latina nominee would underscore the GOP’s problem with anyone who isn’t white. Colorado is a swing state, so the failure of her nomination could spur Democratic turnout. And the visibility would help establish Márquez as a promising candidate for a future successful nomination to the federal bench.
The problem Obama will have in selecting a nominee is that whoever that person is runs the risk of blowing his or her chances of any future shot at the Supreme Court. Few people on the obvious short list will be willing to take that risk.
Whether Márquez would be willing to put herself through the horror show is unclear. Obama is famously risk averse, so a move this bold would be out of character. But at this point in his presidency, what does he have to lose? And wouldn’t it be worth it just to see the heads of the Republican leadership explode in sychronization?
Photo credit: Colorado Judiciary
Brian Birch
how about just saying the woman that he should nominate, her race and sexuality should have nothing to do with it.
Phillip Bernal
Oh this is great give the GOP Retards another reason to do Nothing!
1EqualityUSA
So the GOP obstructionists halted the government and now they want to obstruct some more, with regard to the court. Vote these imbeciles out of office! This maneuver will backfire them, as all the other petty b.s. Obama endured backfired on them. I detest this idiotic, do-nothing party. May they never taste power again.
1EqualityUSA
If Princeton’s Robert P. George, father of NOM, ever gets to sit on the bench, we’ll have another Scalia. May the Republicans never taste power again.
1EqualityUSA
Friedrichs v California Teachers Association would gut the Union and, because of the demise of Scalia, that ruling has been put on hold. You can bet that Union leaders will be pushing members to vote in 2016.
diesel
how can she take what is obviously a professional photograph and have the entire cuff extending beyond the jacket!
1EqualityUSA
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/29/antonin-scalia-looking-backward?intcid=mod-most-popular
“Antonin Scalia, who died this month, after nearly three decades on the Supreme Court, devoted his professional life to making the United States a less fair, less tolerant, and less admirable democracy.”
This was the first line in Jeffrey Toobin’s article about Scalia. Love it!
Mark Pawelczak
I suspect President Hillary Clinton will……
Realitycheck
@Brian Birch: Bravo Brian, it is about competence and democratic values not “sexual, sex or race”.
Aromaeus
Obama is going to nominate someone moderate to placate republicans because he lacks a backbone.
1EqualityUSA
Aromaeus, Insurance entities cannot reject people with preexisting conditions. Obama’s spine is fine.
John Malin
Rather than trying to embarrass the GOP in a silly political spat what we should be doing is demanding that Chief Justice Roberts decide if the GOP has the Constitutional right to block any nominee. Since the GOP wants to delay the selection of a Supreme Court Justice to replace Antonin Scalia, and the Democrats want to move forward on a nomination and Congressional hearings on the appointment, the obvious thing to do is demand that Chief Justice Roberts rule on the Constitutionality of any delays.
This is NOT a question to be decided by politics, but by
Constitutional law. It is time for Chief Justice Roberts to declare himself and make an immediate ruling. It should be as simple as reading the Second Amendment!
1EqualityUSA
John Roberts! This same ninny who opted to make us second class citizens, to allow billionaires to buy elections, who assisted in gutting voter rights, and sided with the religious goons in hobby-lobby…..?……mmmm, no thanks, John Malin. Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse. Is that a feather on your chin, Justice Roberts? No. No confidence vote there. The man is a GOP operative, a political ox, a bigot. No.
Dakotahgeo
The nomination of Monica Marquez might even set off a few more heart attacks in the SCOTUS AND Senate Republicans. That alone would be well worth it! This whole scenario will be easier when the Democrats gain the Senate again in November!
Alistair Wiseman
@Brian Birch:
How dare you, Brian!
How dare you not bow at the left-wing alter of: RACE, GENDER, CLASS.
Alistair Wiseman
@John Malin:
There is no need for what you propose as the U.S. Constitution is very clear on the nomination process of Supreme Court Justices.
Sadly, Republicans are all to familiar with the history of Democrats stalling their nominees.
1EqualityUSA
Alistair, you sound so deflated. vitamins…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hal-donahue/scalia-death-exposes-dyin_b_9282196.html
miserylovedme24
This is ridiculous idea. The absolute worst thing Obama could do is nominate someone overly liberal. He needs to pick someone moderate, someone who the independent voters will see as a solid pick so that when Republicans deny any sort of vote, people will see how ridiculous that is. If he wants to help whoever the Dem nominee is in November, he’ll pick someone that everyone except the very far right is fine with.
Kangol
@Aromaeus: No backbone? He pushed through Obamacare, didn’t he? He passed Dodd-Frank, didn’t he? He got rid of the hateful DOMA law and pushed for same-sex marriage, which is the law of the land, didn’t he? He rid this earth of Osama bin Laden, didn’t he? He got Iran to sign that nuclear treaty, and got Assad to sign away his chemical weapons stock, didn’t he? He’s going to Cuba this year after nearly a half-century of failed embargo policies, isn’t he? He sends the GOP, which claims he’s brainless and weak and so on into conniptions because they also claim he’s all powerful and running roughshod over them, doesn’t he?
@miserylovedme24: His federal court pick Sri Srinivasan passed the US Senate 97-0. Srinivasan was a corporate lawyer and worked for Republicans. He’s moderate. Do you think the US Senate, including all those Republican Senators who voted for his elevation to the federal DC Circuit, will support his move to the Supreme Court if Obama nominates him?
1EqualityUSA
Kangol, If the GOP does their usual do-nothing obstructionist number on Obama, it will fire up the Democratic base. Look at what the billions of dollars flooded into the Tedious Right has done to their party. It seems as though every time the Rebiblicans try to screw Obama, they get screwed back. Good work, Cosmos.
Desert Boy
She would make a tremendous Supreme Court justice.
1EqualityUSA
Desert Boy, She looks as though she inherited the long-life genes. Someday, when she 106 and just stepping down from the Supreme Court after having served the longest, ever, in her role, loved by both (or all four) parties (This is the future, you see, I can make it up) your words will ring true, “Tremendous”…got to get to work on a project. Love to you all.