Female SCOTUS Pick: Don't Pretend Something Is Not Out Of Whack

WASHINGTON--So a new Gallop poll shows "no clamor" for President Obama to select a woman or minority to the Supreme Court vacancy being created by the departure of Justice David Souter.

That means NOTHING to the argument that Obama should appoint a female to the high court. Gallup's data is interesting, but not persuasive or decisive enough to discourage Obama from looking high and low in this great country for a woman for the slot. Who said there has to be a "clamor" anyway? Don't accept that straw man -- or, in this case, straw woman -- premise!

I go back to the argument I made in my "Root for our Side" Woman Up post. Since the nation was founded, only two women have been on the Supreme Court -- Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. For much of this nation's history, women were invisible. Look how long it took Congress to allow women to vote. It's crazy to pretend women don't exist, and that's what the history of high court picks suggests.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) wrote a letter to Obama on May 11 about the pending appointment. Of course, the senators wrote that the "most important thing is to nominate an exceptionally well-qualified, intelligent person."

To pretend that something is not out of whack here is crazy.

My argument is based on history. Boxer and Snowe take another tack -- that women make up more than half of the population and now have just one of nine seats. They are not asking for parity, just some sanity.

Gallup finds that 64 per cent of Americans say it doesn't matter to them whether Obama appoints a woman.

So a lot of people don't care.

Then appoint a female for those who do.