Judicial Selection Quotes
In America, the best attorneys have stayed in private practice where they could make much more money than government service or become professors and scholars of law. In either case, most have a track record that would make Senate confirmation difficult even if they wanted to be Federal Judges. A few like Abraham Lincoln went into politics. The Supreme Court is somewhat of an exception because of the power it wields, but even then many great attorneys have not been so inclined. Federal judges have usually been above average as attorneys, but not among the greatest.
This was FDR’s plan to “pack” the Supreme Court as it was the older justices who were voting against him. Many justices have been very productive even into their 80s. Although Roosevelt was arguably the most popular president in history and was elected for 4 terms, he was rebuffed on this attempt to alter the system of checks and balances.
Johnson thought that he was 5 votes short to pass the Economic Opportunity Act to launch his War on Poverty. This quotation shows the master of Presidential vote getting in action. Jones came from a very conservative and racist district in Florida. In addition to the general conservative concern about the bill. White Southern racists were still angry about the Civil Rights Act that had just passed and saw the anti-poverty programs as another opportunity for the Federal Government to have racially integrated employment and training programs in the South. If Jones voted for the anti-poverty bill, he might well be defeated in the 1966 election. The President promised to appoint him as a Federal Judge—a lifetime appointment—if he were defeated. A potential problem was that there would not likely be a vacant judgeship open in Alabama. Johnson promised that he would create another judgeship for Jones if necessary—a judgeship that was not really needed. Jones was reelected and President Johnson did not have to create a new judgeship.
