by Gerard Coulombe

Created on: May 20, 2009

Should Gender be a Determining Factor in Selecting a Supreme Court Nominee?

As they say in the sports world, "It's a SLAM DUNK!" Or as George Tenet reportedly said to President Bush, "It's a slam dunk, Mr. President." The phrase lost its power to derision, as it missed its target going totally out of play and into the grandstand of public opinion. However, in this case, there's a far greater degree of certainty that President Obama will in fact select a woman as his first Supreme Court nominee because gender is the determining factor. Thus the secondary factor comes to the forefront, and that is, "Which of the women on the public or private short list will be the next Supreme Court nominee?"

How, you ask, can a debate question such as the one presented for this piece be so quickly and predictably resolved? The answer is as multifaceted as it is simple. But, first, let us dispense with prejudicial suspicions to alleviate a few fears among male readers who already feel threatened by what might be perceived as a treasonable viewpoint. How can any man argue that in a debate, a woman is far better than a man at clear thinking and effective arguing?

Easy. In an argument with the wife, it would never appear so to an unbiased observer, that the husband almost always has the upper hand because of his superior powers or persuasion or argumentation. To the contrary, my friends, we all know who is better in an argument between husband and wife. If you say, the man is, then you are poorer for thinking it is so. The easy answer is that it is the wife who wins hands down.

I have many years of "storming out of the house" after an argument to sit in my car with no place to go." On reflection, after getting over "my mad," I have had to conclude that my wife is far better than I when it comes to "dredging" the mind for cogent arguments or disarmingly effective counter-arguments. Any man who argues an opposing view is simply being a contrarian.

Look at Justice Thomas. How good is he at constructing probing questions, or at posing interlocutory questions, or even at framing disarming questions, or at asking any question at all? We don't know. Justice Thomas very rarely asks a question.

Or look at Justice Scalia. A brilliant man, but irascible. He is a principled justice, a requisite, of course, but biased toward strict construction. His bio says that he is married and has nine children. I wonder how his wife has done in arguments with her husband?

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