Concerned that the current Supreme Court has too many Ivy League easterners in its ranks, a noted judicial scholar and former Justice Department official is calling on Congress to reject new nominees who don’t bring greater geographic and background diversity to the Court.
University of Virginia professor emeritus Daniel Meador (pictured below) yesterday sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, (D-Vt.) asserting that “In some important respects, the current membership is the least diverse in the Court’s history, a situation that is unhealthy for the governance of the country, both politically and jurisprudentially.” All but one of the current justices (Californian Anthony Kennedy) is from the east, he noted, and all are from Ivy League law schools. None has experience as a legislator or in elective office of any kind, he added. “This is a striking lack of diversity in geographical origin, educational background, previous life experience, especially lacking in the broader world of governance,” Meador wrote. The BLT was shown a copy of Meador’s letter.
