You aren't saying that only monied people should be on the Supreme Court, are you?
I'm sure it was different when the current crop of Justices were in law school, but today anyone can afford to go to a top law school. Banks will lend law students all the money they want, up to the cost of attendance. It's a pretty safe investment. If you go to Yale, you're practically guaranteed a $120k first year paycheck.
In the old days, schools operated on the attrition model - take in qualified candidates, with the expectation that the less than cream will drop out. Today, the schools take smaller classes but highest standards. If you get into Yale law school, you're brilliant. If you go to Yale, get good grades, edit the law review, clerk with a federal judge, etc - you're not just brilliant, you're damn brilliant. Those are the people you want on the Supreme Court, IMO. The law is a scholarly profession, and you want the best on our de facto constitutional court. There are brilliant folks at "lesser" schools, but you have to be brilliant to get into a top school, you have to be brilliant to rought it out and excel, and those are objective hiring criteria everyone can agree on.
Derek |
