Conserving Energy for Important Battles

I hadn't really planned to write about the Roberts nomination to the Supreme Court once I found out a bit about the nominee. I think David Remer sums it up pretty well. But I find my friends asking for my spin, and have gotten several emails about it, the most disappointing coming from MoveOn.org, who are clearly trying to organize to block the nomination. Sure the Senate should do their due diligence on the nominee, but it's pretty clear any objection to Roberts would fall outside the scope of the "comity compromise", so it seems a waste of effort to spend energy to block this nominee. Most telling for me, though, is the radio interviews I've heard with liberal legal professionals who know Roberts personally and can vouch for his decency. I'd rather have a Supreme Court Justice of sound temperament with whom I disagree, than one who might be more likely to make a ruling or two that I'd be happier with, but who has shown clear unsound judgment in matters of law in the past, especially given the lifetime nature of these appointments. That's why I'm much happier with Roberts than Gonzales, even if it does increase slightly the fragility of Roe v. Wade for instance. There will undoubtedly be some 5-4 decisions going in what I consider the wrong direction due to Roberts' appointment, but I'd rather save our energy for a principled fight against a potential fire breather on the court.

Let's hope that Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, Kennedy, and Souter hold out until we get a moderate with some intellect in the White House.