Beyond the Pale

Pale of Settlement map

Those who set their DVRs to record the announcement of President Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland may have caught a reference Mr. Garland made to his heritage.

"My family deserves much of the credit for the path that led me here. My grandparents left the Pale of Settlement at the border of Western Russian and Eastern Europe in the early 1900s, fleeing anti-Semitism, and hoping to make a better life for their children in America. They settled in the Midwest, eventually making their way to Chicago," said Garland.

For the edification of our, (Wisconsin's), senior Senator Ron Johnson (R):

The Pale of Settlement refers to the forced concentration of Jews by Russia, centuries-long Russian anti-Semitism, invasions of Eastern Europe and militarism, and finally pogroms in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Johnson is not on the south-heavy Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

However, "dumb Ron Johnson," as he known in Wisconsin for his astonishing lack of policy knowledge, doctrinaire and reactionary politics, can use all the help he can get.

Notes Carlo Wolff:

Supporters, meanwhile, said the president’s submission of Garland, the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, not only met the requirements of the position, it also spoke well of – and for – the Jewish community.

'I love the pick,' Stuart Garson, the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party chairman, said by email.

'I just saw his (Garland’s) remarks after the president nominated him. He is right out of our tradition and our uniquely American Jewish immigration experience. He will be an outstanding Supreme Court justice.' (Cleveland Jewish News)

So, we have a brilliant, universally acclaimed and ethical jurist and a man of decency nominated as justice to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Writes the Atlanta Jewish Times:

Merrick Garland would become the fourth Jewish justice on the current U.S. Supreme Court and the ninth ever if the U.S. Senate endorses President Barack Obama’s nomination of the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Obama announced Garland’s nomination outside the White Houseon Wednesday, March 16. During that ceremony, Garland pointed to his Jewish heritage and credited his parents with instilling in him a belief in justice and community service.

Said Jay Michaelson, a Forward columnist who clerked for Garland on the Court of Appeals in 1998 and 1999. "He’s a total mensch. He really wanted to get the law right."

Michaelson added, "I found Merrick Garland to be culturally, though not religiously Jewish, but inspired by the highest values of our ethical and social justice traditions."

Dumb Ron Johnson and his Republican colleagues working to deny, obstruct and banish from the Court decency, and fidelity to the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law should be made aware of this.

If the Republican-led Senate has an ounce of decency, it would expedite confirmation hearings. Then again if these ass-hats leading the Senate had an ounce of decency, they would not be Republicans today.