wbur.org
support wbur today!
Listen to this story
Courting Politics
photo

All three branches of the U.S. government are embroiled in a debate over the role of ideology in judicial appointments.

Politics play a leading role in the way judges vote, according to a study done by Professor Cass Sunstein, but does that mean that nominees should be screened through the filter of ideology?

Choosing judges based on ideology could exclude some of the most qualified candidates, but ignoring politics could be dangerous too.

Click the “Listen” link above to hear more about the criteria that should be used when making judicial appointments.

Guests:

Jeffrey Toobin, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine

Cass Sunstein, Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Chicago Law School and author of “Why Societies Need Dissent”

John Mcginnis, Professor of Law, Northwestern University Law School and author of “Presidential Review as Constitutional Restoration”

 
 

Comments are closed.

Recent Shows
Poker: America’s Game
Thursday, November 19, 2009 image

Poker and American history. How the game of presidents, cowboys, gangsters, and online gamblers helped shape America.

Comments [10]
 
Google vs. Murdoch
Thursday, November 19, 2009 image

Rupert Murdoch wants to block the search giant from scooping free content from his newspapers. We’ll look at the staredown.

Comments [132]
On Point Blog
Michael Wolff and Jeff Jarvis on Murdoch v. Google

We had a rousing discussion about Google vs. Murdoch, and what it says about the whole future of news, with Michael Wolff, Jeff Jarvis, and Steven Brill. Here’s what Wolff and Jarvis had to say about the delusions of both Murdoch and Google.

More » | Comments [18]
 
Video: Google CEO Eric Schmidt

Last week, host Tom Ashbrook was on stage with Google CEO Eric Schmidt, asking him about some of the biggest technology and business issues of our time.
It was part of an MIT event held on Thursday, Nov. 5, to commemorate computer science professor Michael Hammer, who died last year. Here’s video of the full interview, courtesy of WBUR.org:

Among other things, Schmidt said the possibilities [...]

More » | Comments [4]
 
California, here we come! And we need your questions!

On Point is headed west!
No, no. Not for good. Only for one show. But it’s a very special show!  The NPR station in Thousand Oaks, California – KCLU – is celebrating their 15th anniversary. We’re lucky to have been on their airwaves for nearly seven years, and they invited us out west to host a live [...]

More » | Comments [10]