Best Judge EVER!

[sincitymix]

http://www.towleroad.com/2014/08/7-moments-that-will-make-you-want-to-gay-marry-judge-richard-posner-photos/

[+ quoththeraven]

Keep in mind, this is old news.

 

I love Posner because he's incisive and takes no bull. He's written a book called Sex and Reason that applies rational choice theory to sexual decision-making. I haven't read it, but would love to.

 

He also told the Estate of Arthur Conan Doyle that its argument that any story featuring Sherlock Holmes and John Watson infringed on copyright because a handful of the latest written stories are still covered by copyright was frivolous and made it pay the plaintiff's attorneys fees.

 

(As much as I appreciate Judge Posner, Justices Ginsburg, O'Connor and Brennan will forever be my favorites.)

[+ FreshFluff]

QTR, I just read a review of Sex and Reason. I think it will make your head explode. Posner, who is best known for his classic Economic Analysis of Law, writes in Sex and Reason that rape is simply a substitute for consensual sex:

 

http://s5.postimg.org/jxzbw9c9z/Screen_Shot_2015_12_05_at_10_31_44_AM.png

[+ quoththeraven]

QTR, I just read a review of Sex and Reason. I think it will make your head explode. Posner, who is best known for his classic Economic Analysis of Law, writes in Sex and Reason that rape is simply a substitute for consensual sex:

 

http://s5.postimg.org/jxzbw9c9z/Screen_Shot_2015_12_05_at_10_31_44_AM.png

 

I think he's wrong about that. Sometimes the boldest thinkers make big booboos. But that doesn't change my admiration for what I cite above. Also I can't imagine him applying his economic and philosophical analysis to cases.

 

ETA: I would be surprised if he didn't advocate legalizing or decriminalizing sex work.

 

I believe Posner has intellectual integrity even when he's wrong.

[+ WilliamM]

Justices Ginsburg, O'Connor and Brennan will forever be my favorites

 

I can not argue with favorites, but is there a reason you did not include any justice appointed before Pres. Eisenhower named Brennan?

[+ FreshFluff]

I'll say this: IME, would-be rapists/gropers aren't necessarily "extremely unattractive."

 

However, Posner's search cost theory can explain these cases, too. These men's search costs are higher not because they're unattractive but because they're impatient. Spending 30 minutes searching for/waiting for a partner seems like a huge cost to them at that moment. However, contra Posner, some also get off on derive additional utility from forcing themselves on women.

 

I think he's wrong about that. Sometimes the boldest thinkers make big booboos. But that doesn't change my admiration for what I cite above. Also I can't imagine him applying his economic and philosophical analysis to cases.

 

I don't see why that would be difficult to imagine. Aspects of L&E have been applied to court cases in the US. The punitive damages multiplier, which he discusses in EAOL, has been formally applied to torts cases abroad.

[+ quoththeraven]

I can not argue with favorites, but is there a reason you did not include any justice appointed before Pres. Eisenhower named Brennan?

 

Yes. They affected my life in a way the others did not.

 

John Marshall, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis Brandeis were influential, but Brennan was the architect of the Warren Court's decisions, including requiring states to adhere to the Bill of Rights through 14th amendment incorporation. O'Connor for her pragmatism and holding the line on abortion. Ginsburg for her work in establishing gender equality as a constitutional principle (without which marriage equality would have been impossible) and her stubborn moral and intellectual leadership in the face of a conservative majority. She and O'Connor for demonstrating that women are as smart and logical as men and as capable of making good decisions.

 

I could also have added Thurgood Marshall, but he was more influential as the lawyer who argued and won Brown v. Board of Ed. As a Justice, he was an ally and lieutenant to Brennan, who had the connections and personal skills to build coalitions to get majorities.

 

Let's get real here. The Supreme Court is the ultimate determiner of public policy in the U.S. They exist to save us from ourselves and from gross injustice. To say they're not political is wrong.

[+ quoththeraven]

I'll say this: IME, would-be rapists/gropers aren't necessarily "extremely unattractive."

 

However, Posner's search cost theory can explain these cases, too. These men's search costs are higher not because they're unattractive but because they're impatient. Spending 30 minutes searching for/waiting for a partner seems like a huge cost to them at that moment. However, contra Posner, some also get off on derive additional utility from forcing themselves on women.

 

 

 

I don't see why that would be difficult to imagine. Aspects of L&E have been applied to court cases in the US. The punitive damages multiplier, which he discusses in EAOL, has been formally applied to torts cases abroad.

 

I meant contrary to established law. He isn't going to judicially nullify laws against rape, although as a federal judge he's highly unlikely to have to opine on them.

[+ WilliamM]

I could also have added Thurgood Marshall, but he was more influential as the lawyer who argued and won Brown v. Board of Ed. As a Justice, he was an ally and lieutenant to Brennan, who had the connections and personal skills to build coalitions to get majorities

 

Thurgood Marshall was fifty-three years old when the Kennedy Administration offered him an appointment as a federal judge in NYC. Marshall was not interested. Lyndon Johnson wanted to appoint his friend, Thurgood Marshall, to the Supreme Court in 1967, but there were no vacancies, So LBJ appointed Justice Tom Clark's son, Ramsey Clark, as Attorney General. Justice Clark resigned from the court, fearing a conflict of interest.

 

As people know, Thurgood Marshall was the first serious African-American nomination to the Supreme Court.

 

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing were a very tough path, led by anti-Marshall Democratic Party Senators, James Eastland, Sam Erwin, Strom Thurmond, John McClellan. Pres. Johnson and his admistration strongly supported TM throughout. The White House counted a tally of 69-31, only nine beyond a filibuster. Only a southern president could have convinced southern Democratic Senators not to vote.

 

The final vote was 69-11. Johnson has convinced twenty segregationists simply to not vote -- all at the eleventh hour. An aide ro Senator Ted Kennedy said, "It was much closer that it looked."

 

From "Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America" (2015)

 

QTR: I would have mentioned Thurgood Marshall as a fourth justice because JFK did not have the balls to nominate Marshall to the Supreme Court in 1961.

 

Of course, the final irony is that George Bush (41) nominated Clarence Thomas to replace Marshall on the court.

[+ Keith30309]

Let's get real here. The Supreme Court is the ultimate determiner of public policy in the U.S. They exist to save us from ourselves and from gross injustice. To say they're not political is wrong.

 

I agree and have a question.

It seems that there is always much concern that if candidate X is elected president he will appoint a grossly conservative/liberal justice (with Congressional consent). But, in fact, it doesn't seem uncommon to hear that a once-feared justice has not turned out the way anticipated and has actually become more liberal/conservative than anyone thought.

 

Is this truly the case? Does the lifetime appointment cause justices to change their (perceived) nature?

[rvwnsd]

...Is this truly the case? Does the lifetime appointment cause justices to change their (perceived) nature?

 

I do not think the lifetime appointment itself causes justices to change. I think they, like the rest of us, evolve over time. I also think someone who was considered conservative thirty years ago would be considered moderate today.

[+ quoththeraven]

More about Judge Richard Posner:

 

http://harvardmagazine.com/2015/12/rhetoric-and-law