Law degree notwithstanding, I think Obama would be one of the least qualified SCOTUS nominees you could find.
(A) He’s continued the practice of indefinite detention without trial for terrorists.
(B) He’s escalated drone strikes (aka assassination) well beyond anything Bush did.
Both of these points would suggest that Obama doesn’t put much stock in basic concepts of human rights or Due Process of Law. I’d sooner see George W Bush on the Supreme Court, and that’s setting the bar pretty damn low.
I think it’s unlikely but possible that some future President might appoint Obama to the Supreme Court. It all depends on the political dynamic at the time, and the kind of person the President wants and thinks has a decent chance of getting past the Senate. Bill Clinton came very close to appointing then-New York Gov. Mario Cuomo to the court, but didn’t when Cuomo kept changing his mind about whether or not he wanted the job (see Jeffrey Toobin’s The Nine for a near-comical account of Cuomo’s indecisiveness). Cuomo had never held any judicial post before.
Yes, I meant to say something about that. She might be the apex of the “short track record” trend for nominees, but she still has a lot more legal experience as an academic and as Solicitor General than Obama does.
If Obama really wanted to pursue this. He would need to serve first as a Federal District judge. Primarily to clearly show his commitment and to gain experience. Get his hands dirty and get back into the real world.
After a few years then a Supreme Court Nomination would be more reasonable.
Would a modern ex President take a real job? Give up that world of chartered air flights, paid speeches, tv appearances, and easy money? All the butt kissers and hand shakers telling them how great they are? It seems unlikely.
I agree that a modern ex-President would likely not want the job. Though I disagree with some who said that President Obama would be the least qualified candidate ever nominated.
That said, any potential nominee should probaly have some judicial experiance.
I’d say he’s well qualified in terms of credentials. But his administration’s record in front of the court has been pretty dismal, which indicates that he might not understand the Constitution as well as his credentials would suggest. Or he does understand, and places politics above the Constitution, which is just as big a problem.
I’m trying to think how to put it diplomatically…I guess I’d say that it’s not utterly unthinkable to the point of outright mockery. When Obama became the first black student editor of the Harvard Law Review, he was slobbered over by numerous federal circuit justices as a law clerk prospect, and would have been highly recommended to a Supreme Court clerkship so long as he managed to not start any electrical fires or knock over any priceless vases. That’s one of the things that made his decision to turn down clerkships in favor of being a community organizer so jaw droppingly crazy at the time. Not just any federal benches, either, he was actively sought by the Chief Justice of the D.C. Circuit. The D.C. Circuit is the unofficial “feeder” circuit to the Supremes, and four of the nine current Supreme Court Justices come from that circuit, so clerking there is no small thing. Clerking in the Supreme Court itself is no small thing either, six Justices originally served as Supreme Court law clerks, including Kagen, Breyer, Roberts and Rehnquist. If there were such a thing as a road map on to how to get on the federal bench and maybe, just maybe on the Supreme Court, Obama had one on his glove compartment. It wasn’t completely abandoned, either; at least two op ed pieces, I think in the New Yorker and either the NYT or the Washington Post, had Hilary Clinton naming Obama as her first Supreme Court appointment if she got the nomination. That would have been much easier then that it would be now, of course, since Obama now has his presidency to overcome. Even with that, I still think it could be possible with time, maybe in, say, 2026.
It would get in the way of making Michelle Senator-for-Life from the great state of Illinois.
It’s pretty clear that the O man likes being a celebrity. As Pravnik noted, if O wanted to spend his life grinding it out on the bench, he would have done that.
Then you must think George W. Bush should also be prosecuted for the same crimes, since the post is predicated on Obama continuing Bush’s policies. Do you?
Ah, you gotta love lawfare, the international law junkies’ attempt to resuscitate Kellogg-Briand by other means. If you can’t outlaw war, just outlaw all effective war tactics,and you accomplish the same thing!
Please, is there ANY head of government since WWII who has waged war 100% legally?