Does Gender Matter?

With the withdrawal of Harriet Miers' nomination, President Bush apparently no longer felt compelled to nominate a woman to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Instead, he turned to a man, Samuel Alito, who is unquestionably more qualified than Ms. Miers was, having served as a judge for 15 years and with a reputation as a legal scholar.

But are those the only qualifications that matter? Does it matter that should Alito be confirmed, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be the only female sitting on the nation's highest court? I think it does.

The job of the Supreme Court is to interpret the Constitution. How do you interpret anything? Scholarship is an important factor; you study the document, you study supporting documents, you read other people's interpretations, etc. I want any Supreme Court justice to have a first-class mind, capable of integrating information from disparate sources and coming to a coherent, logical conclusion.

But interpretation is also done through the prism of experience. Scholarship alone is not enough; experience colors how we view information. I have no doubt new Chief Justice John Roberts possesses a first class mind, but my concern is over his experience. Not his judicial experience, but his experience of life outside the relatively sheltered environment he seems to have lived in. What is his experience with the problems of other people; what does he know of having to make choices about which bills will be paid this month, or of having to postpone medical care because there's no money to pay for it?

Judge Alito's experience along those lines is likely broader, but neither Alito nor Roberts have any experience with being a woman. Clearly, all women don't think alike, nor do they share the same experiences, but there are differences in the ways men and women experience the world. Pregnancy is a big difference; as far as I know, none of the men on the Supreme Court have ever been pregnant. Can they have a reasoned, informed opinion on abortion? Certainly. Would their reasoned, informed opinion have a somewhat different flavor were pregnancy a part of their experience? You bet.

Women make up half the population. Is it so unreasonable to ask that the highest court in the land reflect that reality a little better?

Washington Initiatives

On www.sherrivotes.org, I've posted a set of articles analyzing the initiatives on this fall's ballot for the state of Washington, where I live. If you live in Washington, or would like to see what's going on in Washington, go on over and check it out. The short version is, I'm recommending NO votes on two malpractice reform initiatives, a Tim Eyman performance audit initiative, and on the repeal of the gas tax. I'm recommending a YES vote on the initiative to ban smoking in places of employment and buildings open to the public.

I first did this a year ago (and those articles are in the archive). My inspiration was my friend Pete Stahl, who has done this in California for many years. When I came to Washington, I didn't think I'd be able to convince Pete to branch out and cover Washington as well, so I decided to do it myself. If you're a California reader, check out www.peterates.com.

One more post on avian flu

Avian flu seems to be rising in everybody's consciousness, which is a good thing as long as it promotes preparedness rather than panic. Since I think more knowledge means less panic, I wanted to highlight the Flu Wiki, a compendium of information and links concerning avian flu and flu pandemics. They have a variety of information on the flu, from scientific to practical to interesting. Check them out!

I'll also note that Stewart Simonson, whom I noted here has few obvious qualifications for his position as the man in charge of the federal response to a flu pandemic, makes The New Republic's top 15 political hacks in the Bush administration, coming in at number 7.

Bush's Martial Plan

The specter of an avian flu epidemic has caught President Bush’s attention evidently. He’s planning ahead for what he thinks might be needed in the event of a pandemic. If I were thinking ahead for such an eventuality, my mind might turn towards increasing supplies of Tamiflu or other potentially effective anti-viral drugs. Or maybe looking to expand our capability to rapidly produce vaccines. Or look at what could be done to better prepare hospitals and public health clinics to cope with catastrophe.

But none of that is on President Bush’s mind. In the event of an avian flu pandemic, his thoughts turn to the military. He wants to be able to deploy military troops to enforce quarantines. In other words, Bush wants to be able to declare martial law in the event of a pandemic.

Bush is no Boy Scout; “Be Prepared” is not in his lexicon. It’s clear that the only lesson he learned from Katrina is not that investing in infrastructure is important, but that if you bring in the guns more quickly, there’s less likely to be any pesky pictures on television.