by Matt Barr

Questions only

The New York Times has five op-ed writers writing five questions each for Judge Roberts today (via Prof. Althouse), including this clunker by Ron Klain:

In a memo you wrote in 1981, you criticized affirmative action "preferences" based on race, calling them "objectionable." If preferences given to those born into families that have suffered past discrimination are objectionable, what is your view of preferences given to those born into the families of privilege - namely, the preferences that many universities give to the families of their alumni?

The problem with liberals is that they don't listen to themselves, and think everyone's like them. If Canisius College in Buffalo, New York gives my son a break on tuition because I went there, I can only assure you it has nothing to do with his being "born into a family of privilege." (Or if it is, I want a piece of that action I'm evidently currently missing out on.) I suppose if you're a graduate of Georgetown and Harvard Law, you'd only understand this if you stopped to think before you opened your mouth.

Anyway, I have five questions.

1. You've given legal advice, and political advice on legal matters, to Presidents. You're also an observer of, practitioner before and admirer of the Supreme Court. If President Bush had asked you which of the seven sitting Associate Justices (not counting the retiring Justice O'Connor) he should elevate to the Chief Justice position, who would you have recommended, and why?

2. How would you respond to the assertion that the part of the Constitution that does the most to limit the power of Congress is not the Bill of Rights, but rather Article I?

3. Can you state a rule, based on current Supreme Court precedent, governing whether a display of religious iconography is or is not allowed on public property in a sentence? If not, can you at least state one briefly? If not, is that a problem?

4. In a representative sample of 20 of your arguments before the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia voted for your client's position 82.5 percent of the time, while Justice Stevens voted "your" way 27.5 percent of the time. What factors might account for this remarkable disparity?

5. In your opinion, what is the most compelling argument you've heard in favor of term limits for federal judges?

You may have better ones.

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