Nixon had nominated a perfectly awful judge to the Supreme Court, and this judge (G.H. Carswell) was criticized as being a mediocre judge, with the direct implication that only exceptional judges should be nominated to the Supreme Court. A Republican Senator from Nebraska named Roman Hruska came out with this memorable quote as to why Nixon's mediocre judge should be confirmed despite his obviously not being qualified to sit on the SCOTUS:
"So what if he is mediocre? There are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they? We can’t have all Brandeises, Cardozos, and Frankfurters and stuff like that there......"
Yes, there ARE a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. Not only are they indeed entitled to a little representation, Senator Hruska (R-Nebraska) had just proved conclusively that they DO have representation--right there in the Congress of the United States, in fact! No Republican has yet to explain why we can't have all "Brandeises, Cardozos and Frankfurters." The whole idea behind a SUPREME Court was to indeed have the best, and have those few really exceptional (i.e. NOT mediocre) legal minds on the SCOTUS.
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