William Jacobsen ran a post titled, Which Seat Would Cass Sunstein Fill? It seems like Sunstein’s name has come up quite a bit lately so I decided to check the man out. The following is not an in depth analysis, rather, my thoughts on tidbits gleaned from the web in between participating in those activities that my employer would prefer I engage in while being paid. Here goes:
Sunstein advocates FDR’s Second Bill of Rights, which includes the right to an education, home and healthcare. Couple this with the fact that he co-wrote Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness which basically says people make really bad choices so they need organizations (government?) to nudge them in the right direction. I come away with the feeling that this is a man who is much too comfy with government intervention in private lives.
On the plus side, Sunstein favors judicial minimalism, arguing that judges should focus primarily on deciding the case at hand, and avoid making sweeping changes to the law or decisions that have broad-reaching effects. Can I get an Amen!
The biggest thing I came away with is that Cass Sunstein is a well educated, highly accomplished legal scholar, who is absolutely qualified to take Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s place on the Supreme Court. This brings us back to Professor Jacobsen’s post.
Apparently, Ginsberg’s seat on the court has been designated a “woman’s seat” which Sunstein, by virtue of his sex is not qualified. Where is the justice and equality in that? If equality means anything it can’t be predicated on the worn out notion of affirmative action. Affirmative action should be repugnant to feminist, but its not. It is time for feminists to rethink whether they really believe in equality.
h/t Legal Insurrection
No comments:
Post a Comment