What Might Have Been…

Well, with Justice Stevens retiring from the Supreme Court, it’s time to start another round of speculation and wishful thinking about who will get the job this time.

I have no idea who the mainstream pundits are pushing for, but I’m always partial to Wise County Deputy Commonwealth Attorney Ken Lammers. He has more criminal law experience than the entire current court combined, and although he’s a prosecutor (and therefore won’t frighten the Republicans) he’s done some defense work in the past, and he seems less motivated by the desire to mete out punishment than certain other prosecutors.

On the other hand, Brian Tannebaum seems to be trying to generate a one-man blawgospheric groundswell for New York’s Scott Greenfield, proprietor of the venerated Simple Justice blog. Brian is obviously inhaling too much of whatever they’re smoking down there in Florida, but the thought of a no-holds-barred criminal defense lawyer like Scott on the Supreme Court is pretty amusing.

(And, let’s face it, the Supreme Court could sure as hell use a criminal defense lawyer in its ranks, someone who has had the experience of trying to save a client from the awful power of government vengeance. Not one of them has done that.)

Now it’s late at night, and I keep thinking about something that almost happened last year. I can’t get it out of my head, and it fills me with regret for what might have been…

Last year, some nut with ties to the Obama administration dangled the possibility of a federal judgeship in front of Norm Pattis. As things turned out, it didn’t happen. But what if it had…?

And what if the crazy impulse that lead them to consider Norm in the first place somehow struck again and lead them to nominate him to the Supreme Court? When I imagine a bomb-throwing madman like Norm on the Highest Court In The Land…damn, that would be glorious.