Harkin hoping for more diversity on Supreme Court

The nine justices of the United States Supreme Court include seven men and two women, a Protestant, five Catholics, two Jews, an African-American and a Hispanic.

What the court needs, Sen. Tom Harkin says, is a little diversity.

With three New York natives, a Georgian and two each from California and New Jersey, Harkin suggested this morning President Barack Obama might want to pick a Midwesterner.

It would seem appropriate to nominate someone from the flyover region of the country to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, an Illinois native.

Just two Iowans have serves as Supreme Court justices. Samuel F. Miller served from 1862-90 and Wiley B. Rutledge was a justice from 1943-49. Both were Kentucky natives.

Harkin didn't suggest any particular Iowan or Midwesterner. Instead, he outlined some broad parameters for the ideal nominee.

He'd like to see a nominee with “real-life experience versus someone who's just been in law library for last 20 or 30 years.”

Harkin wouldn't be opposed to a nominee who had held elective office, someone like Earl Warren, who was a governor, or Hugo Black, who had served in the Senate.

He's also looking for a justice who shares his views on striking a balance between the court and Congress. Someone who will “look at the laws Congress has passed and give Congress a little bit more room in terms of legislation” than the current court.

Under Chief Justices William Rehnquist and now John Roberts, Harkin said, the Supreme Court has invalidated more laws than any other court in the history of the nation.

“There's been no more activist court than the Rehnquist-Roberts court,” he said. “So, hopefully, we'll get s a justice in there who will recognize the constitutional prerogatives of Congress.”

The nominee doesn't even have to be an attorney, Harkin noted, and he doesn't think it's necessary the nominee has previous judicial experience.

“I think some of our best justices in the past were lawyers but not steeped in law, they had done other things,” Harkin said. William O. Douglas headed the Securities and Exchange Commission before serving on the court from 1939-75 and “I think he was one of the great justices in my lifetime.”

Harkin didn't mention it, but Douglas was a Midwesterner, hailing from Minnesota.