August 19, 2005

Is this anti-woman?

Or anti-lawyer?

11 comments:

goesh said...

- probably a little of each since the ABA just gave him a big thumbs up -

Bruce Hayden said...

Actually, I am happier with Thomas than I would have been with Bork. Nothing against Bork, but I just like Thomas - probably my favorite Justice.

But isn't Roberts' wife an attorney? Fairly successful at that?

Wasteland Fan said...

Saul said: "Second, the comment should be read as gender-neutral . . ."

Wasteland Fan says: Right, because otherwise you'd have to ignore the legions of men who were homemakers when Roberts wrote the statement.

Unknown said...

It's absolutely anti-lawyer, and I'm sure he had a smile on his face when he wrote it.

Nancy said...

Well, you have to go to the bottom of the article to get the full quote: "Some might question whether encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good, but I suppose that is for the judges to decide."

Can he be faulted for trying to anticipate what detractors of the scholarship program might say? As a lawyer, isn't that part of his job?

Troy said...

Wasteland Fan: men as homemakers... I have two words for you: "Michael Keaton". :)

Bruce Hayden -- I love Thomas. I have introduced my Con law students to the joys of the Thomas dissent.

Overall I think the Roberts homemaker comment is a tempest in a teapot. The world would be a lot better place with more homemakers and less lawyers (of either sex).

Unknown said...

Well put, Prof. Althouse! Heh heh.

Unknown said...

I agree with Roaring Tiger. 20 years ago I thought women's suffrage was a necessary and good thing.

Then Rosie O'Donnell and the Couple-Thousand-Mom March happened.

Now I am seriously troubled by the 19th Amendment.

hat said...

I think it was less a matter of saying women were unqualified, but that women who were homemakers were unqualified. Much like, however you may support affirmative action, putting a former black railway worker or forklift driver into a proffesorship would be alot like encouraging wives who had only been homemakers to take up law.

Troy said...

Drethelin... too bad there aren't more former railroaders and forklift drivers in academia. It would've been nice to have professors who had held "real" jobs -- meaning manual labor. I know I know... I'm not generalizing to "all" professors.

I did have the benefit of many of my law professors who had actually practiced law before state judges with needy clients and bills to collect, etc.

Dwight said...

It's a lawyer joke.

Thanks for the link though. The comments there are priceless, especially the ones that clearly didn't read the posted link. If I didn't know better I'd say it was a spoof. Sadly it isn't.