THE SUPREMES PART 2

 This is a continuation of the topic of last Sunday - our Supreme Court.  Much of what is written about the Court has to do with the expected leaning of the nominees.  Presidents are obviously apt to nominate those judges whose political views are near theirs.  The nominees almost always come from lower courts.  Judges in the lower courts write explanations of their decisions.   It is from these writings that a judge's political positioning is determined (by some) or assumed.  Of course, like all people, judges change their attitudes over time.  The following is another list of our current justices; this time with who nominated them, and how, by their decisions, they have come to be seen to stand politically (this is very subjective).  Those marked 'swing' have voted both liberal and conservative on various rulings although all were expected to be conservative.

Stephen Breyer  by Bill Clinton  Liberal

Clarence Thomas  by George H.W. Bush  Conservative

Samuel A Alito Jr. by George W. Bush  Conservative

John Roberts  by George W. Bush  Swing

Sonia Sotomayor  by Barack Obama  Liberal

Elena Kagan  by Barack Obama  Liberal 

Neil Gorsuch  by Donald Trump  Conservative

Brett Kavanaugh  by Donald Trump  Swing

Amy Coney Barrett by Donald Trump  Swing

Notice that by my subjective designation, this court is currently pretty well balanced between liberal and conservative.  Anyone with a liberal/progressive bent, might see the court differently.  Six justices were nominated by Republican presidents and three by Democrat presidents.  With Breyer retiring, the balance of the court should remain near the same when Joe Biden nominates a liberal/progressive thinking judge.

I wrote quite a bit about the court and about liberal and conservative thinking.  Put one of these words in the search box to find previous entries.