Monday, February 15, 2016

Adalberto Jordan makes SCOTUS shortlist

Yesterday I raised the possibility of President Obama nominated 11th Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan:
That brings up an interesting idea... what about Obama nominating Judge Jordan?  A moderate, former prosecutor.  He would be the first Cuban-American on the Court.  He clerked for Justice O'Connor and he even played baseball at UM.  He was confirmed 93-1 for the district seat and 89-5 for the 11th Circuit, so he sailed through.  He would also be the first Floridian on the Court, something I have discussed before.
Today, the New York Times also lists Jordan as a potential candidate:


Adalberto J. Jordan
AGE 54.
CURRENT ROLE Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
BACKGROUND Hispanic man. Born in Cuba. Attended University of Miami School of Law. Clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a Reagan appointee. A former federal prosecutor. Appointed to Federal District Court by President Bill Clinton in 1999 and elevated to the appellate court by Mr. Obama in 2012. Confirmed 94 to 5, with 41 Republicans voting in favor.
DISCUSSION Judge Jordan would be the second Hispanic and first Cuban-American justice on the Supreme Court. The White House may calculate that a decision by Republicans to block him could have political consequences in places with sizable Latino voting populations — including his home state of Florida, a swing state in presidential elections, which also has a Senate election this year.

SCOTUSBlog's Tom Goldstein hasn't mentioned Jordan yet.  His money is on Loretta Lynch.  But he does say this:

Minority voters are a different matter.  Traditionally, black and Hispanic turn-out has trailed white turn-out.  In the 2004 election, the percentages were white 67.2%, black 60.0%, and Hispanic 47.2%.  In 2008, they were white 66.1%, black 64.7%, and Hispanic 49.9%.  The 2012 election was the first in which the proportion of black turn-out exceeded that of whites.  The percentages were white 64.1%, black 66.2%, and Hispanic 48.0%.
Overall, in 2012, the white proportion of the voting population decreased to 71.1% and the minority proportion increased to 28.9% (22.8% black and Hispanic).  For that reason, many attribute President Obama’s reelection to minority turn-out.
The best candidate politically would probably be Hispanic.  Hispanic voters both (a) are more politically independent than black voters and therefore more in play in the election, and (b) historically vote in low numbers.  In that sense, the ideal nominee from the administration’s perspective in these circumstances is already on the Supreme Court:  Sonia Sotomayor, the Court’s first Latina.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Or Charles Wilson.

Anonymous said...

Why not Judge Cooke?

Anonymous said...

SCOLA FOR SCOTUS

Anonymous said...

Title of the article has a typo, FYI.

David Oscar Markus said...

Thanks. Fixed.

Anonymous said...

Judge Jordan would be a great pick. he was a very good district judge and has been a very good circuit judge. As far as politics go, tough for the Senate (especially Senator Rubio) to say no to a qualified, moderate Cuban-American judge.

Not JAFI much longer said...

I guess I wasn't crazy for thinking he'd make a great choice.

Anonymous said...

Jordan might get hearing and, if he got hearing, he would get approved.

But don't think POTUS will appoint Judge Jordan.

Bob Becerra said...

Judge Jordan would the smart choice for Supreme Court. He is Hispanic, but more importantly, he is SMART and a great writer. On top of that his character is great, as he volunteers much.