CBS News’ Jan Crawford called out Hillary Clinton after she accused President Trump of picking judges “largely chosen on the basis of age, longevity and political ideology being pushed through despite having no relevant experience”:
This is just wrong on multiple levels:
SEC. CLINTON: We've recently seen people largely chosen on the basis of age, longevity and political ideology being pushed through despite having no relevant experience. And, I think prior… people took seriously the selection of judges— Jan Crawford (@JanCBS) October 31, 2019
Now for the beat-down:
You may have an issue with Bush/Trump nominees,but they generally (and certainly relatively speaking) are qualified and experienced.
— Jan Crawford (@JanCBS) October 31, 2019
And no one should ever assume Republicans don’t take “seriously” the selection of judges.
— Jan Crawford (@JanCBS) October 31, 2019
Dismissing those judges as political hacks is a disservice and cheapens our discourse. And a Yale-educated lawyer not looking to score cheap political points should know better
— Jan Crawford (@JanCBS) October 31, 2019
This prompted the WaPo’s true conservative Jennifer Rubin to step in with some examples, notably Neomi Rao below:
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 31, 2019
Big mistake, Jen. BIG:
Whats your point here? Are you saying 46-yr-old Neomi Rao lacks experience to be a judge because of something she wrote when she was in college at Yale 25 years ago? That’s your standard for experience? https://t.co/rCXMUHyXD5
— Jan Crawford (@JanCBS) October 31, 2019
She was appointed to the most critical circuit with zero judicial experience other than as a clerk. She is not experienced. Her dissent in Mazars USA speaks (poorly) for itself
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 31, 2019
So only a federal district court judge or state court appellate judge can be nominated to an federal appellate court?
— Jan Crawford (@JanCBS) October 31, 2019
You asked about experience. She is very low as are a number of other nominee. And yes, for the DC Circuit you should have had a day or two of judging
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 31, 2019
And boom:
I guess Justice Kagan can be glad President Obama didn’t agree with you on that
— Jan Crawford (@JanCBS) October 31, 2019
But it go worse for Rubin. Much worse:
1. How uninformed is @JRubinBlogger? DC Circuit judges with no prior judicial experience:
-8 of the 11 active judges, including 3 of 4 Obama appointees & all 3 Clinton appointees.
-6 of the 7 senior judges
-All 8 Supreme Court Justices from the DC Cir.https://t.co/CNT8Wc9TJW
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 31, 2019
2. DC Circuit judges w/no prior judicial experience:
Antonin Scalia
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Elena Kagan
John Roberts
Clarence Thomas
Brett Kavanaugh
Wiley Rutledge
Fred Vinson
Merrick Garland
Douglas Ginsburg
Robert Bork
Kenneth Starr
Skelly Wright
Barrett Prettyman
David Bazelon— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 31, 2019
3. Warren Burger
Harry Edwards
Lawrence Silberman
Abner Mikva
James Buckley
Patricia WaldIf you're keeping score, that includes 3 Chief Justices of the US, 3 nominees who almost made the Supreme Court, and the guy after whom they named the courthouse in which the DC Cir sits.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 31, 2019
4. I could go on listing the current & former names, but there is not now, nor has there ever been, a norm favoring judicial experience for DC Circuit judges; even Obama appointees like Sri Srinivisan who got high marks for qualification from the @JRubinBlogger crowd had none.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 31, 2019
How’s that for a fact check? Wow.
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