SCOTUS: still too white and masculine
Ezra Klein is unhappy about the Supreme Court's decision to uphold Congress's ban on partial-birth abortion (or, if you prefer, "so-called partial birth abortion"):
It is hard, in all of this, not to grow increasingly enraged at the makeup of the Court generally and the conservative bloc specifically. Kennedy could theorize all he wanted about female reactions to abortion: Within the group that voted to uphold the ban, there was not one woman. Five men made this decision for 150,000,000 women. Five men obviated the moral judgment of 150,000,000 women.
I can't help but feel this is one of the feebler reasons for feeling "enraged". Judges make decisions every day about matters on which they have little, or often no experience whatsoever. I'm fine with the idea that the Supreme Court could "look like America" or whatever (though ideally I'd just like to have the best nine talents available, regardless of their views, sex or ethnicity), but the idea that this particular decision is made worse because the five judges concerned are male strikes me as, well, somewhat silly. Would one woman supporting the verdict been enough? Or would you need two? Three?
Hell, I tend to disagree with the Supreme Court's decisions in, say, medical marijuana cases but I don't get all extra-indignant about it because none of the judges are (as far as we know) regular pot-smokers and are therefore ruling on matters far from their own areas of expertese or experience.
Finally: is five men making a decision for 150,000,000 women better or worse than eight men and one woman making judgements for 300,000,000 people? Discuss.

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