When Justices Become Super-Legislators, Confirmations Must Become Political

In other words, President Obama has endorsed jurisprudence that’s less about what an impartial application of the law requires than about the judges’ preconceived, subjective opinions about what’s best for “the people.” The problem, of course, is that in a democratic republic, such policy-driven determinations are supposed to be the province of elected politicians – not of elite judges with life tenure, completely insulated from any meaningful accountability for their decisions.

But as long as President Obama (and other Democrats like him) continue to seek judges based on their policy preferences rather than their commitment to interpreting the Constitution as written and intended by the Founding Fathers (and as ratified by the people), the post of Supreme Court Justice will inevitably be a political one. And so – like it or not – Republicans have no choice but to follow the Democrats’ example of treating judicial nominees like political punching bags, rather than as decent, accomplished – and presumptively impartial – jurists.