Roberts, the new Thomas?

Remember when the first Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court? For me, it was a poor pick based on his lack of judicial experience, his hostility towards civil rights (irony notwithstanding), and his rather questionable ABA rating. Unfortunately politics degenerated the confirmation hearings into an embarrassing case of "he said she said", distracting the public from the real problems with Thomas's nomination.

But in the end, Thomas was an unknown; there were educated guesses but nothing concrete to evaluate him on. He would not answer questions relating to cases like Roe v. Wade, for instance insisting that he had not formulated views on abortion. Sadly this was a successful tactic that was aided by the Anita Hill distractions.

I hope that Dems in Washington remember this as we move into the confirmation process. The best advice I would have is to ask the tough questions (like those posed by Chuck Schumer) and insist on getting substantial answers. Keep in mind that the GOP runs Capitol Hill and the filibuster is inappropriate for this nominee. The White House is weakened as of late and their nomination definitely reflects this. Keep that in mind when you do your Constitutional duties and publicly scrutinize this nominee.