Althouse: "I don’t want to be a Supreme Court Justice, but I’d love a recess appointment to the Court."

December 13, 2018

"I don’t want to be a Supreme Court Justice, but I’d love a recess appointment to the Court."

"It would be fun, and after a year or so I could go back to my normal life. And probably get a book out of it."

Writes Glenn Reynolds.

This gets one of my favorite tags: "normal."

23 comments:

rhhardin said...: Justices with a longevity fetish are not the way to go.; 12/13/18, 6:41 AM
Mary Beth said...: Like how Hillary said she didn't want to run for president, she just wanted to be president? I doubt she'd willingly give it up in a year. And, boy, would she get books out of it!; 12/13/18, 6:42 AM
tim maguire said...: You didn't used to have to be a lawyer (or, these days, an appellate judge) to get on the Supreme Court. With 9 justices to dilute the influence of any crazies, I'd like to see a couple everyday people mixed in. Let's get the customer service rep's and the cable repairman's take on the constitutional questions of the day. I bet you'd see a lot less nonsense.; 12/13/18, 6:45 AM
rehajm said...: No normal person will subject themselves and their friends and their families to the process anymore. Some of the faith driven candidates might still be classified as normal but voters have decided that's a category to shun.; 12/13/18, 6:50 AM
Francisco D said...: One of the things I like about Glenn is that he evolved from a moderate Democrat into a Libertarian with anti-leftist tendencies. It would be a gas to have a SCOTUS Justice evolve in that manner rather than the other direction.

If I recall correctly, Whizzer White was the only one who evolved from somewhat liberal to somewhat conservative.; 12/13/18, 7:05 AM
Leland said...: I also saw where his UT salary will be posted, so people can see how much they think he makes. I'm sure it is a good sum, but mostly good benefits to go along with his Instapundit income. A recess appointment would get him a little more benefits for the rest of his life.; 12/13/18, 7:08 AM
rehajm said...: It would be a gas to have a SCOTUS Justice evolve in that manner rather than the other direction

Yes. The word for the other direction is devolve.; 12/13/18, 7:09 AM
Chris said...: Glenn Reynolds would be awesome. I trust him.; 12/13/18, 7:10 AM
iowan2 said...: A non-lawyer would be good. Just like a non-politician in the Oval is good.

Multiple times a day, I see some story about how President Trump is doing something 'wrong'. First question. Wrong why? (it never gets asked) Always, the 'wrong' is because it is a bad political calculation. All of these brilliant talking heads still refuse to understand that President Trump has no political capital. He desires not to build any, and if for some reason he finds he has some, it is of no value to him.

A non-lawyer on SCOTUS would be the same. His votes would not be constrained about what lawyers would think about his vote. Untethered from outside judgement.; 12/13/18, 7:40 AM
tcrosse said...: Another Yalie? No thanks.; 12/13/18, 7:44 AM
mezzrow said...: Another Yalie? No thanks.

Heh.; 12/13/18, 8:00 AM
Larry J said...: Based on their record of "accomplishments", I'd like to see a ban on any Ivy graduate for any public office for at least 40 years.; 12/13/18, 8:05 AM
TreeJoe said...: Francisco D said, "One of the things I like about Glenn is that he evolved from a moderate Democrat into a Libertarian with anti-leftist tendencies. It would be a gas to have a SCOTUS Justice evolve in that manner rather than the other direction."

I love me some Glenn and I've been a reader of Instapundit for somewhere between 12-14 years. He used to be a solid libertarian. The intellectual quality took about 2 steps down with PJ Media coming in and I find Ed Driscoll to be ridiculously irritating. Anyway, calling Glenn a Libertarian is now an accurate reflection of his most consistent thinking. It's an anti-leftist solidly republican blogger with libertarian leanings.

As a minor example: You used to see almost as many posts challenging the intellectual consistency of a democrat as you would with the same challenge of a republican. Not so much anymore.; 12/13/18, 8:14 AM
robother said...: A recess appointment would spare him the Senate hearings. Thus, he would have a normal life to go back to.; 12/13/18, 8:50 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: He could just retire after a year. Who could stop him?; 12/13/18, 9:27 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: I agree with Reynolds. It would be a gas. And you could probably go through life with either Justice or Hon. before your name. Law firms love this sort of thing for their biographies and letterheads. Don't usually have to work that hard, just show up when they need a high powered/high visibility attorney to meet and woo clients. I saw one of these deals once where they were paying the illuminary $250k for 200 hours a year. And, yes, the work would be fun too, esp since you would have clerks to do the heavy lifting of the legal research.; 12/13/18, 11:12 AM
bagoh20 said...: With all the unhinged and vicious shaming, attacks and pressure from the left, becuase that's their thing, it takes real courage to openly become, be, and remain a conservative, and especially a Trump supporter. You risk: name calling, censorship, losing your job, false accusations, vandalism to your property, harassment of your family, and even physical violence. There is no similar risk to being openly left. You can even get elected to Congress with no qualifications at all other than being a leftist or part of an approved group, regardless of how stupidly left - see Ocasio Cortez, or Hank Johnson. Then again, if they work together, we can use waste in the Pentagon to give everyone free healthcare and still stop Guam from tipping over - win/win; 12/13/18, 11:24 AM
The Elder said...: "Normal" is the best word to describe the dream of just about all lawyers, judges, and law professors to serve on the Supreme Court, but only for a short time.

I have been reading Instapundit for a long time. It is how I found this blog. I like and would trust Glenn to ask the right questions of the Justices behind closed doors.

But there is that problem that tcrosse pointed out at 7:44. Another Yalie?

Hmmm.; 12/13/18, 11:54 AM
Bilwick said...: I would like that just for the chance of shtupping the statism out of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.; 12/13/18, 1:53 PM
Josephbleau said...: Blogger Larry J said...
Based on their record of "accomplishments", I'd like to see a ban on any Ivy graduate for any public office for at least 40 years.

12/13/18,

Remember that these people are lawyers, they would just not apply for degrees. Ban anyone with 90 quarter hours in the Bigs. Make them finish at UVA or our precious UW-Mad.; 12/13/18, 6:49 PM
Marcus said...: It would be a riot because remember that Reynolds posted on his great blog the "advice" that if protestors are blocking the freeway and threatening your safety, you should run them over. or words to that effect.

I read the Instapundit blog religiously.

THEOLDMAN; 12/13/18, 7:26 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Marcus,

If you strip beside the hysteria, there are some actually interesting questions there. At what point does deliberately restraining your freedom of movement in a public place become kidnapping or unlawful imprisonment? Both of these crimes are felonies, and at least here in Washington the resistance against someone committing a felony upon you is one of the factors and determining justifiable homicide.

See:

https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9A.40.040

https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9A.16.050; 12/14/18, 11:47 AM
Kirk Parker said...: Argggghhh! Voice dictate!!!

Strip *aside*, not beside.; 12/14/18, 11:48 AM