From the Washington Post: Chief Justice John Roberts is worried about how the public sees the Supreme Court. In a recent speech celebrating Law Day at New England Law-Boston, Roberts discussed (among other things) the confirmation process for Supreme Court nominees, namely how it has evolved—or been degraded—such that the three most recent ones—Samuel Alito, selected by President Bush, and Sandra Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, picked by President Obama—were approved largely on party-line votes. “That suggests to me,” said Roberts, “that the process is being used for something other than ensuring the qualifications of the nominees.
“When you have a sharply political, divisive hearing process, it increases the danger that whoever comes out of it will be viewed in those terms. If the Democrats and Republicans have been fighting so furiously about whether you’re going to be confirmed, it’s natural for some member of the public to think well, you must be identified in a particular way as a result of that process. And that’s just not how – we don’t work as Democrats or Republicans.”
