How to Diversify the Court: Pick a WASP

If you’re looking to diversify the Supreme Court, Robert Barnes of the Washington Post has an idea: Why not pick a WASP? There hasn’t been a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant nominated since David Souter in 1990. The current court boasts five Catholics and two Jews—not exactly representative. Of course, white people have had a good run, but the point is that gender and race aren’t the only factors in diversifying the court. 

In many ways, the current court is incredibly homogenous. Eight of the justices went to Yale or Harvard, every last one of them comes from an appellate court, and all but two of those courts were on the Eastern Seaboard. Maybe Obama should pick someone who went to a public university (like 75% of college students), or a lawmaker or governor, Barnes contends—someone to inject some “real-life” experience into the court. (More US Supreme Court stories.)