New at Reason: Steve Chapman on Identity Politics and the Supreme Court

May 28, 2009

Some people are unhappy to hear President Obama suggest that attributes like gender, ethnicity, and "empathy" are critical in choosing a Supreme Court justice. But as Steve Chapman writes, it's a little late for most conservatives to decry identity politics. Few objections were heard from Republicans in 1991, when President George H.W. Bush decided that the ideal person to fill the vacancy left by Thurgood Marshall, the court's first black justice, was Clarence Thomas, who just happened to be black as well.

Read all about it here.