Shades Of Roman Hruska

From James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal:
Remember Roman Hruska? If so, you're older than we are. Hruska, a Republican, was elected to the U.S. Senate from Nebraska in 1954 and retired in 1976. His 1999 New York Times obituary took note of his lone famous utterance:

It was his defense of President Richard M. Nixon's nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge G. Harrold Carswell of Tallahassee, Fla., that brought him some uncomfortable celebrity in 1970.
Liberal Democrats had mounted a strong campaign against Judge Carswell, a member of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Florida, contending that he was too "mediocre" to deserve a seat on the nation's highest court.
When Senator Hruska addressed the Senate in March 1970, speaking on Judge Carswell's behalf, he asked why mediocrity should be a disqualification for high office.
"Even if he were mediocre," Mr. Hruska declared, "there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos."
The Democrats gleefully jumped on Mr. Hruska's argument, reducing it to "What's wrong with a little mediocrity?"

Last week Justice David Souter let it be known that he intends to retire this summer, giving President Obama his first Supreme Court nomination. There has been talk that Obama will look for a "liberal Scalia"--i.e., someone with unyielding principles and verbal flair. But some politicians and observers have other ideas, as the Associated Press reports:

"I would like to see more people from outside the judicial monastery, somebody who has had some real-life experience, not just as a judge," said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings when Obama makes his nomination.

At least Carswell was a judge! Leahy seems to want not a liberal Scalia but a liberal Joe the Plumber. The president is making similar noises, according to another AP dispatch:

Obama pledged Friday to name a Supreme Court justice who combines "empathy and understanding" with an impeccable legal background to succeed liberal David Souter, whose abrupt retirement announcement set off speculation the next justice could be a woman, a Hispanic or both. . . .
"I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book. It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives," said the president.

So here we have Obama, the great intellectual president, pooh-poohing "abstract legal theory" and speaking reverently of "the daily realities of people's lives."