Harry Reid, Blissfully Ignorant
What does Harry Reid think about Judge Sotomayor?
“We have the whole package here,” he announced in his office yesterday morning with the smiling Sotomayor seated to his left, her hands folded neatly in her lap. Further, Reid said to her, “you’ve been an underdog many times in your life but always the top dog.”
What else? She ““is going to be a fantastic, superb Supreme Court justice.”
On what past work does he base this judgment?
“I understand that during her career, she’s written hundreds and hundreds of opinions,” Reid said. “I haven’t read a single one of them, and if I’m fortunate before we end this, I won’t have to read one of them.”
Unsurprising but depressing! As Gene Healy’s cult of the presidency continues apace, it is equally remarkable that the legislative branch so often seems unable or unwilling to carry out basic functions proscribed by the Constitution. This is a lifetime appointment! And Harry Reid feels comfortable consenting to it having read less of Judge Sotomayor’s work than I have?
(Hat tip Radley Balko)
Personally, I don’t understand why we expect members of Congress to read all of these things in the first place. For the most part, bills and legal opinions are heavy on legalese, heavily technical, etc, and aren’t within most members area of expertise. Expecting them to read every word of this stuff would, for the most part, be futile. It seems to me that this is a good reason to have staffers for individual members and committees; to pour through this stuff and brief the members.
— Brien Jackson · Jun 3, 01:38 PM · #
It’s probably less deference to the president as deference to the general community of experts. I mean, yeah, if I were sitting on the Senate, I’d spend a lot more time looking in to Sotomayor than I do as a political spectator, and it’s kind of weird that Reid doesn’t. But I haven’t read anything she’s written, and I’m kind of assuming that if there were something she wrote that I would find deeply objectionable, that someone smarter and more disciplined than me would have noticed it and started raising a big stink about it.
OTOH, while it makes sense for voters to rationally satisifice like this in a representative democracy, it does start to get a bit problematic when the representatives themselves start satisificing in the same way.
— Consumatopia · Jun 3, 01:46 PM · #
“OTOH, while it makes sense for voters to rationally satisifice like this in a representative democracy, it does start to get a bit problematic when the representatives themselves start satisificing in the same way.”
Voters don’t have staffers getting paid to do that research for them.
— Brien Jackson · Jun 3, 02:17 PM · #
After all, Harry Reid should know the danger of a senator reading court nominees’ opinion: “I think that [Thomas] has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written. I just don’t think that he’s done a good job as a Supreme Court justice.”
— Evan · Jun 3, 02:28 PM · #
Reid is a shining example of Democratic leadership. Seriously, just take Obama out of the picture for a second and try to imagine the Democratic Party – you see pretty quickly how badly they need to reinvent.
— E.D. Kain · Jun 3, 02:41 PM · #
Oh – and one more thing – Conor, I’m tired of you always attacking conservatives all the time. How dare you! That’s all you ever do as this post makes abundantly clear….
— E.D. Kain · Jun 3, 02:42 PM · #
I’m with Brien Jackson. There’s a lot of people working these issues, it’s enough for Sen. Reid to be aware of the debate and have the staffers check the details. If the Senator finds a charge against her worth further study, then it’s worth at least taking the time to read some primary sources and detailed staff reports.
Beyond staffers, there’s the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and Reid isn’t on it.
I do think there’s a real problem with the cult of the Presidency, but extra homework for Senate leaders isn’t going to solve it.
— Greg Sanders · Jun 3, 02:43 PM · #
It’s the executive branch which is always doing things proscribed by the constitution. It’s congress which is failing to do basic functions prescribed by the constitution.
— peterg · Jun 3, 03:21 PM · #
Harry Reid tends to embarrass himself when he mentions the judiciary .
— Stuart Buck · Jun 3, 03:23 PM · #
As he did here as well
— Stuart Buck · Jun 3, 03:28 PM · #
Greg,
While I agree that Senators cannot be attentive to every detail they’re meant to oversee, I hardly think that reading at least some of the judicial opinions written by a Supreme Court nominee is “extra homework.”
What Senatorial task is more important than prepping for the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice?
— Conor Friedersdorf · Jun 3, 05:36 PM · #
Reid maybe reckons the Administration would have given her a thorough vetting before approving her prospective nomination. Judging by how that hasn’t worked out so well, it would suit him better to not be so enthusiastic.
— Ali Choudhury · Jun 3, 05:52 PM · #
“What Senatorial task is more important than prepping for the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice?”
As majority leader, Reid’s “prepping” has little to do with reading opinions. In fact, that would be an incredible waste of his time. Reid’s job is politics and unless there is some outlier opinion that will affect the politics, it’s not Reid’s job to worry about her opinions.
— Steven Donegal · Jun 3, 06:21 PM · #
Steven Donegal,
I would argue that Reid’s blithe public admission that he has no intellectual curiosity about Sotomayor’s opinions is bad politics.
— Kate Marie · Jun 3, 06:27 PM · #
Can you imagine the reaction to Sarah Palin saying this?
— Julana · Jun 3, 06:43 PM · #
Steven,
The office of Senator — even if one is majority leader — is supposed to encompass far more than mere politics. It is the implicit admission that all Reid cares about is politics that makes his comment so objectionable.
— Conor Friedersdorf · Jun 3, 08:07 PM · #
By your logic, I shouldn’t have voted against McCain without first reading his 4 or 5 books.
It’s seems to me entirely logical for Reid to say: I trust my Democratic colleagues on Judiciary to identify and find any problems, not to mention the media. Much better that he should be trying to bridge the Baucus-Kennedy gap on health care than delving into the intricacies of the Second Circuit. It’s a good principle called specialization of labor.
— Bill Harshaw · Jun 3, 08:21 PM · #