Interesting issue on the search for a new SCOTUS candidate

[pegkerr]

knitmeapony pointed to this blog article at the Shakeville blog [shakes_sis], pointing to Paul Campos's piece on the fat hatred, prejudice, and ignorance permeating discussions of whom Obama should nominate to replace the retiring Justice David Souter:

Within hours after the news broke that Souter was resigning, concerns arose that [former Harvard Law School dean and current Solicitor General Elena Kagan] and [federal appellate judge Sonia Sotomayor] might be too fat to replace him. A commentator on the site DemConWatch.com noted that of the three most-mentioned candidates "the oldest (federal judge Diane Wood) is the only one who looks healthy," while Kagan and Sotomayor "are quite overweight. That's a risk factor that they may not last too long on the court because of their health."

At The Washington Monthly, a commentator claimed to have employed a more scientifically rigorous method: "To all the short-sighted libs who are clamoring for the youngest-possible nominee... Right idea, wrong methodology. You want someone who will serve the longest, i.e. with the greatest remaining life expectancy—and that involves more than simple age. I tried assessing their respective health prospects, and ruled out all who even border on overweight. Best choice: Kim McLane Wardlaw, whose ectomorphitude reflects her publicly known aerobic-exercise habits."

(Wardlaw's "ectomorphitude" also gets rave reviews at legal gossip site Underneath Their Robes, which describes her as "Heather Locklear in a black robe. This blond Hispanic hottie boasts a fantastic smile and an incredible body, showcased quite nicely by her elegant ensembles.")

Meanwhile, a letter writer at Salon comments on Sotomayor's candidacy, "How do you say 55, overweight, and diabetic in Spanish?" (Sotomayor was diagnosed with Type I diabetes—which doesn't correlate with higher weight—when she was a child).

Lissa urges:

I'll just encourage you to go read the whole thing, in which Campos brilliantly teases out the relationship between sexism and fat hatred.

Personally, I was particularly pleased with the last line of Campos' article:

Indeed, if we were really concerned about medical risk factors that actually do have a significant negative correlation with a candidate’s life expectancy, the most relevant is one that has afflicted 108 of America’s 110 Supreme Court justices: being a man.