Which posters would you appoint to the Supreme Court?

[MaC]

ah, what the hell me too.

Liberty
Alcon
Ebowed
Gabu
Joe Republic
David S-CJ
States Rights
BRTD
Phillip

trying to keep things balanced.  Libertarian leaning with tints of other spectrum, but nothing populist.

Joe Republic and Gabu make up the moderate wing.  David S would be the leading libertarian.  I didn't choose Dibble because he's overused so far.  States Rights (conservative) and BRTD (liberal) for balance and good measure.
Emsworth can complete the analysis if necessary

[Sam Spade]

Chief Justice:  Liberty

Justices:  
KEmperor
Ernest
Emsworth
dazzleman
Goldwater
Ebowed
Jake
John Ford

This should be a quite entertaining court.

[Everett]

Oh fine, just to make Richius happy...

Chief Justice: Richius
Associate Justices: Bono, David S, A18, AuH2O

And Clay, of course.

So, any more suggestions, Richius? I'd like to see how effective this court is (no offense to anyone who was listed). Maybe you could all defy my expectations.

[Emsworth]

ah, what the hell me too.

Liberty
Alcon
Ebowed
Gabu
Joe Republic
David S-CJ
States Rights
BRTD
Phillip

trying to keep things balanced.  Libertarian leaning with tints of other spectrum, but nothing populist.

Joe Republic and Gabu make up the moderate wing.  David S would be the leading libertarian.  I didn't choose Dibble because he's overused so far.  States Rights (conservative) and BRTD (liberal) for balance and good measure.
Emsworth can complete the analysis if necessary

Eh, it looks like a clearly libertarian court. On economic issues, it looks like it would be very difficult for the liberal side to win the case. There might be a lot of 7-2 and 8-1 decisions.

I think that on social issues, we might see the court deferring to the states in several cases, as A18 would like. At the federal level, though, I think that the court is firmly on the libertarian/liberal side. StatesRights might have to write quite a few dissents...

[bullmoose88]

angus (never capitalized ) is more a liberal than a conservative.

You think so? I havent' had a chance to read many of posts by him on constitutional issues.

He's a libertarian-leaning Republican who is not really conservative, but not liberal either.  He would probably be a wild card on the court, siding with the liberal or conservative factions depending upon the nature of the case.  A very good pick, actually.  He's got great reasoning ability and good life experience, as well as a lot of common sense.

*pats self on back*

I consider mitty and angus to be the closest folks to me on the forum, interms of ideology, so I had to put them both on board

and yeah, dazzleman, I wouldn't be writing many opinions on social cases on Walter's court either...no fun.

Walter's court is a pretty interesting one.  There might be certain cases where you'd be a swing vote on that court.  It's kind of hard to get a grip on Walter's ideology, and his court picks cloud the picture even more...

I honestly don't know how I'd be a swing vote on that court.

Certainly not on social issues...and fiscal issues I'm conservative enough where I don't think I'd buck the trend.

shrug.

[Emsworth]

Chief Justice:  Liberty

Justices:  
KEmperor
Ernest
Emsworth
dazzleman
Goldwater
Ebowed
Jake
John Ford

This should be a quite entertaining court.

Indeed. There seems to be a clear libertarian majority (Liberty, KEmperor, Ernest, Goldwater, and me). Add to that a populist (Ford), a liberal (Ebowed), and a pair of conservatives (Jake and dazzleman).

Thus, on economic issues, the five libertarians would be joined by dazzleman, and in some cases by Jake as well, so that makes the majority 6-3 or 7-2. I note that Jake seems to have been trending towards the center on economic issues; he might end up as a populist after a while if this continues.

On social issues, I think that Ebowed will join the libertarians from time to time, but not on all issues (exceptions include abortion ). In any event, there seems to be a solid majority for the liberal side on social issues.

[Max Power]

For mine:
Chief Justice- John Dibble
A18
Bono
Everett
Cosmo Kramer
Al
NewFederalist
John Ford
Harry

What do you think of this, Emsworth?

[The Duke]

Well, it seems that I'm appearing on a number of lists, and I certainly appreciate all the people who hold me in such high regard on legal issues (And to those who don't, I guess you're no amicus of this curiae ).

I've been described as a populist here, though I don't think that's entirely accurate.  I fit the definition of a statist a little better than of a populist.

As for my own picks, here goes.

Chief Justice: Dazzleman
Associate Justice: Peter Bell
Associate Justice: Emsworth
Associate Justice: Gabu
Associate Justice: Ernest
Associate Justice: John F. Kennedy
Associate Justice: KEmperor
Associate Justice: John Dibble
Associate Justice: A18

I have listed the Associate Justices from least originalist at the top to most originalist at the bottom.

My choices of Peter Bell and Emsworth are to provide balance from the left of the spectrum, and I presume they'd be in the mold of a Souter instead of a Stevens.  Its always nice to have a little center left on a court.

Gabu is a true center, and from what I've seen of him on legal threads he is in the O'Connor mold.  His instinct is, like O'Connor's was, to compromise and avoid tackling major culture war issues head on.  He does not have a deeply rooted judicial philosophy as the others do, and a little dose of pragmatism never hurt anyone.

Ernest and JFK, and KEmperor, form a sort of center-libertarian core.  They would tend to read things like the commerce clause more narrowly than I, but there readings are certainly well within reason.

John Dibble would be a more libertarian jurist than the other three, and they'd likely form the core of a plurality bloc on the Court.

A18 is the representative on these boards of the Constitution in Exile movement obviously, our own little Clarence Thomas.  It never hurts to have someone on the bench whose first concern is the text of the Constitution, and A18 is that.  He may not have previously realized this, but there's no one this board that can question his knowledge of the law, even if no one agrees with it either .

Chief Justice Dazzleman and I would not disagree on much, he would be a conservative in the Rehnquist mold.  I chose him for Chief because of his seniority and temperment, which like Rehnquist allows him to be a minority vote without seeming to lose his authority over the Court.  His opinions are sure to be forceful.

Dazzleman, A18, KEmperor, Dibble, Kennedy, and Ernest would likely form a center right bloc of those who would interpret the Constitution fairly strictly, with Gabu a true swing vote and Emsworth and Bell in the mminority much of the time.

[Q]

Ass. Judges:
Clay
Peter Bell
Richius
Immy
...oh, I mean...

It took me a second, but .

[Platypus]

if anyone could analyse my court, that'd be cool

[nini2287]

if anyone could analyse my court, that'd be cool

Likewise.  Both of them

[TeePee4Prez]

Mine:

Chief Justice: Nym90
Assoc. Justice: migrendel
Assoc. Justice: NickG
Assoc. Justice: bullmoose88
Assoc. Justice: nclib
Assoc. Justice: Peter Bell
Assoc. Justice: KEmperor
Assoc. Justice: NewFederalist
Assoc. Justice: supersoulty

I combined ideology I'll admit, but made some picks based on legal reasoning otherwise.

[KEmperor]

Mine:

Chief Justice: Nym90
Assoc. Justice: migrendel
Assoc. Justice: NickG
Assoc. Justice: bullmoose88
Assoc. Justice: nclib
Assoc. Justice: Peter Bell
Assoc. Justice: KEmperor
Assoc. Justice: NewFederalist
Assoc. Justice: supersoulty

I combined ideology I'll admit, but made some picks based on legal reasoning otherwise.

LOL, I'm not going to be in the majority a lot with this one.

[Emsworth]

Dazzleman, A18, KEmperor, Dibble, Kennedy, and Ernest would likely form a center right bloc of those who would interpret the Constitution fairly strictly, with Gabu a true swing vote and Emsworth and Bell in the mminority much of the time.

Hmm, I'm more to the right than you think on economic issues. I don't have a particularly loose interpretation of the commerce clause (definitely not as loose as Peter Bell [who is himself relatively strict already], or even Ernest, possibly).

On social issues at the federal level, I imagine that I would be in agreement with the libertarian bloc. Of course, at the state level, I might be in the minority often, given that the conservative bloc will probably be unwilling to sustain incorporation.

[Emsworth]

For mine:
Chief Justice- John Dibble
A18
Bono
Everett
Cosmo Kramer
Al
NewFederalist
John Ford
Harry

What do you think of this, Emsworth?

This should be interesting. This seems like a court with five libertarians (Dibble, A18, Bono, Everett, and Federalist), three populists (Kramer, Al, and Ford), and a liberal-semi populist (Harry).

On economic issues, there would appear to be quite a clear conservative majority. I can't imagine Dibble, A18, or Bono swinging to the other side; I think that Everett or NewFederalist would defect only very rarely. This is bound to leave Justice Cosmo Kramer writing a lot of scathing dissents.

Social issues at the federal level once again see a majority of 6-3, if we count Harry. On some issues, the majority will be 5-4. Definitely, any federal restriction of abortion or of gun rights will be overturned by this court. On the other hand, we will see, as usual, more deference to the states. Thus, Roe v. Wade and similar decisions probably will not stand.

I personally feel that we could have made this court more interesting (not necessarily better) by replacing one of the libertarians with a true swing voter. Reading the dissents of Cosmo Kramer on the one hand, or Bono and A18 on the other, would be quite entertaining.

[Emsworth]

Chief Justice: (presuming overseas-born is OK) JFK (and presuming he's a bit older

Assistant judges:

Ernest
Al
ColinW
Texasgurl
KEmperor
Bono
Alcon

and either Supersoulty, Clay, Peter Bell or Gabu for the last spot.

Let's assume that you have Supersoulty on the bench. That gives one six libertarians (JFK, Ernest, ColinW, KEmperor, Bono, and Alcon), two populists (Al and Supersoulty), and one liberal (Texasgurl).

Economic issues will see the six libertarians almost always voting as a conservative bloc. Supersoulty might swing to this side from time to time; in some cases, even Al might join them, leaving the court with a few 7-2 and 8-1 conservative economic decisions. On the other hand, it is also entirely possible that Bono alone disagrees, and that the other eight seek a somewhat moderate approach, in a particular decision on economic issues. Thus, Bono and Texasgurl might be in the minority on several occasions.

On social issues, I imagine that the court would easily be on the liberal side. Even if Bono and one of the other libertarians (probably ColinW) chooses to be conservative on the grounds of states' rights, Texasgurl would still furnish the liberal side with a 5-4 majority. KEmperor or Ernest would also have to swing to the other side for the conservatives to win.

I'm not too familiar with Clay's constitutional views. Putting Peter Bell or Gabu on the court merely solidifies the libertarian majority much further.

[bullmoose88]

Mine:

Chief Justice: Nym90
Assoc. Justice: migrendel
Assoc. Justice: NickG
Assoc. Justice: bullmoose88
Assoc. Justice: nclib
Assoc. Justice: Peter Bell
Assoc. Justice: KEmperor
Assoc. Justice: NewFederalist
Assoc. Justice: supersoulty

I combined ideology I'll admit, but made some picks based on legal reasoning otherwise.

LOL, I'm not going to be in the majority a lot with this one.

Me thinks we're going to be joining opinions quite a bit.

[JohnFKennedy]

*pats self on back*

I consider mitty and angus to be the closest folks to me on the forum, interms of ideology, so I had to put them both on board

*Ahem*

[bullmoose88]

*pats self on back*

I consider mitty and angus to be the closest folks to me on the forum, interms of ideology, so I had to put them both on board

*Ahem*

Oh yeah. JFK mk. II

[Nym90]

I think Emsworth should analyze everyone's picks...

Having nothing better to do during the Summer, I should be able to do so (not all right now, of course). I'll start with Wildcard, since he specifically asked.

Cheif Justice: John D. Ford

Assistant Judges
Dazzleman
A18
PBrunsel
Emsworth
JFK
Gabu
John Dibble
Nym90

There appear to be one populist (Ford), two conservatives (Dazzleman and PBrunsel), two liberals (Gabu and Nym90), and four libertarians (A18, Emsworth, JFK, and John Dibble). Gabu could perhaps also fit in the libertarian category, but I think that he's more of a libertarian-leaning liberal.

On economic issues, the conservative side clearly has an advantage: the conservative majority could be 6-3 or 7-2, depending on Gabu's votes.

On social issues, there appears to be a slight liberal majority. I would expect A18, opposed as he is to incorporation, to side with Ford, Dazzleman, and PBrunsel on such issues most of the time. Gabu, Nym90, JFK, Dibble, and I would probably have a liberal voting record most of the time on these issues. At the same time, it seems likely that one of us would defect to the other side from time to time. Thus, there would probably be quite a few 5-4 splits.

Gun rights are safe, as is early term abortion. However, Gabu might become a swing voter in late-term abortion cases. I don't know enough about Nym's views on abortion to say if he would be a swing voter as well. Thus, I would expect decisions like Stenberg v. Carhart to be struck down.

I don't believe that there is a single key swing vote, especially given the conservative bent of the bench on economic issues. I expect that A18 and I will have conflicting opinions in many a case.

On abortion, I am personally pro-choice, but support restrictions, especially on late term abortion. I feel that once the fetus reaches the point at which it could theoretically survive outside the womb (at roughly about 20 weeks or so, I believe), it achieves a different status than it had previously, and should have the right to live unless the mother's life is in jeopardy.

I'm really pro-choice more for practical reasons than for moral reasons. The best way to reduce abortion is to reduce poverty; throwing people in prison will have little or no beneficial effect, I feel. I certainly oppose abortion on moral grounds, but I feel that the choice should be up to the mother up to about 5 months. I certainly would have no problem with requirements that she be educated about the alternatives, however, and would in fact encourage them.

[Emsworth]

Chief Justice-John Ford
opebo
BRTD
Ebowed
StatesRights
A18
John Dibble
Cosmo Kramer
WalterMitty

This is possibly the most interesting court so far. It has two populists (John Ford and Cosmo Kramer), three liberals (opebo, BRTD, and Ebowed), one conservative (StatesRights), and three libertarians (A18, John Dibble, and Walter Mitty).

On economic issues, I imagine that we will be seeing a lot of 5-4 liberal votes. I think that A18, Dibble, Mitty, States, Cosmo Kramer, BRTD, and opebo are all extremely unlikely to swing to the opposite side. John Ford and Ebowed might swing from time to time, but would probably vote liberally in most cases.

On social issues, similarly, we should see quite a few 6-3 and 5-4 liberal decisions. I think that A18 might vote conservatively in a few cases, but that would still leave 5 liberal votes. Ebowed might swing to the other side, especially on abortion.

So, on the whole, it would appear that Ebowed is the key vote on this court.

[John Dibble]

Chief Justice-John Ford
opebo
BRTD
Ebowed
StatesRights
A18
John Dibble
Cosmo Kramer
WalterMitty

This is possibly the most interesting court so far. It has two populists (John Ford and Cosmo Kramer), three liberals (opebo, BRTD, and Ebowed), one conservative (StatesRights), and three libertarians (A18, John Dibble, and Walter Mitty).

If I had to be in close quarters with opebo, he might have an accident of sorts. One of us would probably not survive for long anyways.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Indeed. You can't really peg Ebowed as liberal - he's entirely all over the place on the issues.

[Bono]

Chief Justice-John Ford
opebo
BRTD
Ebowed
StatesRights
A18
John Dibble
Cosmo Kramer
WalterMitty

This is possibly the most interesting court so far. It has two populists (John Ford and Cosmo Kramer), three liberals (opebo, BRTD, and Ebowed), one conservative (StatesRights), and three libertarians (A18, John Dibble, and Walter Mitty).

If I had to be in close quarters with opebo, he might have an accident of sorts. One of us would probably not survive for long anyways.

Courthouses are dangerous places.
Accidents can happen...

[John Dibble]

Chief Justice-John Ford
opebo
BRTD
Ebowed
StatesRights
A18
John Dibble
Cosmo Kramer
WalterMitty

This is possibly the most interesting court so far. It has two populists (John Ford and Cosmo Kramer), three liberals (opebo, BRTD, and Ebowed), one conservative (StatesRights), and three libertarians (A18, John Dibble, and Walter Mitty).

If I had to be in close quarters with opebo, he might have an accident of sorts. One of us would probably not survive for long anyways.

Courthouses are dangerous places.
Accidents can happen...

His obituary would probably state: "Fell on a gavel 50 times"

[Emsworth]

His obituary would probably state: "Fell on a gavel 50 times"

Opebo's Obituary: "Fell on a gavel 50 times"
Opebo's Biography: "Fell on a prostitute 50 times"