February 12, 2000
12:00 PM Subscribe
From the "We're in the 2000's, right?" file: Senator Jesse Helms continues to be an asshole, blocking *any* African-American judges from being appointed to the 4th Circut Court of Appeals. The court happens to preside over an area with the largest population of African-Americans anywhere in the country.
Yep, Helms is a jackass. The judges, from what I've seen and met, seem like nice people (All of em I've seen are old, white males) - they're very hot on issues like federalism, and strong on anti-crime issues. They're a tough bunch of judges. From what I can tell, I doubt the Judges are against having some color on their bench - they're generally a fair, but tough bunch. Seems that Helms is clinging to the past, and it probably disturbs him that the South is changing, however slowly...
On a sidenote, one of my professors, who argues before the 4th Circuit often, tells me that if you're a lawyer arguing before the 4th circuit, you'd better not cite a california case to support your argument - according to him, a lawyer cited a california court - the judge interrupted him and said, "yes counselor, but don't they also eat granola and walk around in sandals in california?" (but actually, if a law is homogeneous throughout the land, chances are, it's different in california - some of the most puzzling caselaw comes from california, and unfortunately, people think we're all whackos out there!!!)
yep - the south is amazingly isolated... I guess that's by choice - if it weren't for the "war of Northern aggression" as they call it, things would be just fine down here!!! Oh, and by the way, the 'stars and bars' doesn't represent racism, and it's not meant to offend anyone - it's a connection to my heritage, blah blah blah.... Someone get these people history books - last time I checked, the North won....
posted by Magnus at 3:48 PM on February 12, 2000
On a sidenote, one of my professors, who argues before the 4th Circuit often, tells me that if you're a lawyer arguing before the 4th circuit, you'd better not cite a california case to support your argument - according to him, a lawyer cited a california court - the judge interrupted him and said, "yes counselor, but don't they also eat granola and walk around in sandals in california?" (but actually, if a law is homogeneous throughout the land, chances are, it's different in california - some of the most puzzling caselaw comes from california, and unfortunately, people think we're all whackos out there!!!)
yep - the south is amazingly isolated... I guess that's by choice - if it weren't for the "war of Northern aggression" as they call it, things would be just fine down here!!! Oh, and by the way, the 'stars and bars' doesn't represent racism, and it's not meant to offend anyone - it's a connection to my heritage, blah blah blah.... Someone get these people history books - last time I checked, the North won....
posted by Magnus at 3:48 PM on February 12, 2000
I read that article, and I must say that there's more here than meets the eye. Senator Helms is blocking, to my knowledge, ALL Clinton appointees to the Fourth Circuit. Helms is known to oppose Clinton appointments of all kinds, not just judges, as a matter of course, regardless of race.
Despite what the "critics" cited in the article say, this seems to have a lot more to do with Helms's general opposition to all of Clinton's appointees, rather than just the black ones.
posted by mikewas at 5:45 PM on February 12, 2000
Despite what the "critics" cited in the article say, this seems to have a lot more to do with Helms's general opposition to all of Clinton's appointees, rather than just the black ones.
posted by mikewas at 5:45 PM on February 12, 2000
...personally, I'm just as offended by people slinging around generalizations about Southerners as I am by institutionalized racism a la Helms. Two slanders don't make a truth: a friendly reminder from your resident humanist harridan.
posted by Sapphireblue at 9:49 PM on February 12, 2000
posted by Sapphireblue at 9:49 PM on February 12, 2000
As a wise man once said: "All generalizations suck"
:)
posted by mathowie at 9:56 PM on February 12, 2000
:)
posted by mathowie at 9:56 PM on February 12, 2000
Sapphireblue is right - the problem isn't that Helms is a Southerner or a geezer (as BoyCaught suggests) - the problem is that Helms is an ignorant fool. And BoyCaught is right too - don't expect fools like Helms to ever change...
posted by jenett at 6:18 AM on February 13, 2000
posted by jenett at 6:18 AM on February 13, 2000
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posted by BoyCaught at 3:11 PM on February 12, 2000