[kenboy]

He's up to be an appeals court judge and he's never been a judge before. Ever. Anywhere. Not even traffic court, apparently.

I'm sure there are plenty of qualified conservative judges who could be promoted to an appeals court slot -- do we really need to put guys who need on-the-job traning on the bench?

[pogo101]

He's up to be an appeals court judge and he's never been a judge before. Ever. Anywhere. Not even traffic court, apparently

Um, I'm not saying we shouldn't consider (perhaps even prefer) already-sitting judges, but your formulation (effectively REQUIRING prior judicial experience) would have kept many fine judges off the appellate and SCOTUS bench, including Scalia (no judicial experience before DC Cir.), Rehnquist (none prior to SCOTUS), Kozinski (9th Circus), etc., etc., etc., etc.

I mean no offense, but that particular objection isn't a sound one.

[geezerwheezer]

When using your rules of previous judgeships, we would be without the services of some of the very best minds to ever serve as federal judges, like maybe Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas to name just a few. You need to reconsider your comments.

[writmeister]

Does Mr. Wallace have any appellate experience as a practitioner? That would be most relevant.

Since the role of an appellate judge and a trial judge are quite different, I do not think being a trial judge is the end-all be-all requisite for being an appellate judge.

[Zhang Fei]

He's up to be an appeals court judge and he's never been a judge before. Ever. Anywhere. Not even traffic court, apparently.

He was a law clerk for Chief Justice Rehnquist. That means he wrote Rehnquist's Supreme Court opinions. He's qualified. Perhaps over qualified.

[votelife]

he clerked for Rhenquist...that's probably tougher than being a judge. This guy is likely eminently qualified.

[Labyrinthos]

He's up to be an appeals court judge and he's never been a judge before. Ever. Anywhere. Not even traffic court, apparently. I'm sure there are plenty of qualified conservative judges who could be promoted to an appeals court slot -- do we really need to put guys who need on-the-job traning on the bench?

I wonder what rating the ABA gave to Judge Guido Calabresi, of the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, when Clintoon nominated him in 1994. Here is a link to his background (click on his name): http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/

Note that the total lack of any judicial experience did not prevent him from serving on what many think is the most important circuit court in the Federal System, except perhaps for the Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.