Wednesday night I saw Anita Hill speak on campus, and she was awesome.
From her speech, I really took away some good food for thought: she said when it comes to Supreme Court nominees, we need to worry more about judicial philosophy as much as we do about credentials. She said the fact that credentials are emphasized over philosophy is elitist (looking for Ivy League degrees) sexist, and racist.
She also said that the way that Bush introduced Harriet Miers versus the way he presented Samuel Alito and John Roberts shows his own sexist bias. Bush emphasized Alito's and Roberts's experience and legal pedigrees while saying of Miers that he "knows her heart."
To be fair, Miers has no experience as a judge, while Roberts had at least two years and Alito has 15 years.
At the end of the speech, I asked her who she would pick for the Supreme Court. She mentioned Sonia Sotomayor, a Yale classmate of hers. But she emphasized that if the president were looking for qualified women, that the list is long.
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