Connections and Luck Help Lawyers Win Supreme Court Seats
Sometimes it really is who you know.
Connections to the president’s inner circle are an important factor in determining which lawyers end up as Supreme Court nominees, USA Today reports. A little luck doesn’t hurt either, according to retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
USA Today quotes comments once made by O’Connor, who may never have been nominated if she had not met Chief Justice Warren Burger on a houseboat vacation, according to the story. O’Connor called the selection process a “classic example of being the right person in the right spot at the right time. Simply stated, you must be lucky.”
The story quotes other examples in which connections played a role. Justice John Paul Stevens was helped because President Ford’s attorney general, Edward Levi, was a friend and colleague. Justice David H. Souter was nominated by the first President Bush in part because of the recommendation by chief of staff John Sununu, a friend of Souter’s in New Hampshire.
The article also points out that timing is important. A Senate controlled by an opposing party can be an obstacle to a controversial nominee.
Which lawyers have the right connections to President-elect Barack Obama? USA Today throws out a couple names: Harvard law dean Elena Kagan and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. They are connected to Obama advisers such as Harvard law professors Laurence Tribe and Cass Sunstein, incoming White House counsel Gregory Craig and attorney general nominee Eric Holder.
