Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
Wait, wait, wait.
In the context of confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee, media focus on her background =/= "scrutinized."
Every SCOTUS nominee is heavily scrutinized, both before the nomination is announced and after.
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Exactly - I think we have to be careful about how we define scrutiny. Every Supreme Court nominee, going back for many years (probably at least since the issue with Fortas) has been subject to extreme scrutiny throughout the nomination process. There are a ton of background checks, and they look into every iota of the nominee's personal and professional life.
Here was my whole issue with the thing - I just think that President Obama is underselling Sotomayor's considerable talents and professional experience by using this whole backstory of "empathy" and understanding, and by over-selling her personal background. You get people wondering whether she was nominated because of her feelings and personal background growing up, instead of focusing on the fact that she's a brilliant lawyer who has earned the right to be a SCOTUS nominee. At the end of the day, I don't think it's especially fair to her.
It probably won't affect the nomination process to any large degree, and I understand it makes for good copy and for a compelling story, but I just don't agree with the way it was framed.