MOORE REVISITED

Kevin Drum links this Bruce Fein commentary on Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and also throws in some comments on Alabama Attorney General (and appeals court nominee) Bill Pryor, concluding,

Just remember: if Pryor gets confirmed he could be your next Supreme Court justice. Doesn’t that thought send chills up and down your spine?

Personally, no. I’d rather have a judge recalcitrant in applying past judicial activism than one who makes it up as he goes along. Furthermore, we’re forgetting the role variable: Appelate court judges will naturally act differently than elected state politicians. If Pryor’s ambition is to sit on the Supreme Court, he will have every incentive to create a record of judicial temperament conducive to that ambition.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.