Diverse judges

• Author: Thomas E. Simmons
• Pages: 8-8

Diverse judges

In reference to “Reimagining Federal

Courts,” April-May, page 9, I served as

a law clerk for two district court judges:

a white male appointed by President

Donald Trump and a Black female ap-

pointed by President Barack Obama.

As individuals, the former was polit-

ically conservative and the latter liberal.

As judges, they approached cases in the

exact same way: The rst question they

would ask when we began discussing

a pending motion was, “What does the

___ Circuit say?” Both let the law, and

not their political ideologies, lead them

to the result.

Jo Neuman

Mandeville, Louisiana

Liane Jackson’s “Reimagining

Federal Courts” rightly emphasizes the

importance of restoring public trust in

our courts. To that end, diversity on the

bench should be pursued with vigor.

In comparing the percentage of non-

white Donald Trump-appointed Article

III judges (16%) to Barack Obama’s

(36%), she also correctly characteriz-

es this aspect of Trump’s legacy—the

least-diverse pool in the modern era—as

disappointing. But Trump did appoint a

slightly greater proportion of women to

the bench (24%) than either Bush.

Still, the political nature of appoint-

ments cannot be ignored. To the extent

that presidents appoint members of

their own party, Democrats enjoy de-

mographic advantages over Republicans

in achieving diversity. It’s unfair to sug-

gest that Republican presidents should

have impaired discretion on account

of the less-diverse composition of their

party rolls. A better rubric would take

account of the number of opposing-par-

ty appointments—if any—and indepen-

dents. If only presidential appointments

were driven more by judicial qualica-

tions, character, talent and excellence

than by party afliation.

Thomas E. Simmons

Vermillion, South Dakota

‘Unqualif‌ied psychobabble’

I was a licensed psychotherapist before

I became a lawyer, and I am a Cal-

ifornian to boot. But am I alone in

engaging in mental eye rolls on what I

consider to be unqualied psychobabble

in the On Well-Being columns?

Surely there is something informa-

tive and entertaining that could go in

its place. How about a column that

contrasts some aspect of U.S. law with

other countries’ laws?

Linda J. Vogel

Pomona, California

Interpreting the Constitution

Professor Philip Meyer’s informative ar-

ticle “Origin Stories,” February-March,

page 24, leaves out one particularly im-

portant voice. No one has had a greater

impact on interpreting the Constitution

than U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall.

Marshall was of the Revolutionary

period. He was Thomas Jefferson’s

cousin and rival, a friend of James

Madison, and especially of George

Washington, with whom he served at

Valley Forge. He played a prominent

role in Virginia’s ratifying convention,

and most important, he sat as the

fourth chief justice for 34 years.

Serving early in the court’s existence,

he rendered opinions (often unanimous)

that read the Constitution broadly. He

created judicial review, a concept no-

where mentioned in the Constitution.

After 200-plus years, it seems futile

to search for the precise meanings of

words used by the framers or as under-

stood by the public at that time. Mar-

shall, as a contemporary of that era,

certainly didn’t feel the necessity. Even

Justice Antonin Scalia recognized that

originalism, as that effort is known, can

be a dead end. For example, he conced-

ed that in the late 1700s, whipping pris-

oners would likely not been a violation

of the Eighth Amendment prohibition

against cruel and unusual punishment,

though clearly abhorrent today.

Marshall had it right: Be instructed

and guided by the words of the Con-

stitution, but if possible, make the docu-

ment work for the good of a growing

and complex country.

Calvin Bellamy

Munster, Indiana

Correction

In Letters From Our Readers, April-

May, page 8, the verb “was” was

erroneously added to the rst line of

Thomas Goetzl’s letter.

The Journal regrets the error.

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