" Big Leaguer?"

I really like baseball. When I was a boy, I couldn't get enough baseball; little league for two months during the summer, pickup games when I didn't play league games, WGN TV and radio coverage of both Chicago teams, and, of course, coverage of the pennant races and the World Series on the major networks. During the winter, I used to watch winter ball from Cuba at night; I lived for baseball as a kid.

My team was the White Sox, but I had grudging respect for the New York Yankees, as they were the perennial favorites of America to "win it all" every year. You can't really blame the public as the history of this team is loaded with "Hall of Famers"; Ruth, Gherig. Dimaggio, Berra, and Mantle are just a few of the former Yankees that names echo through the "Hall"; they have a rich heritage.

The Hall of Fame is the ultimate achievement of any player. It means you are the "best of the best", the goal setter for all the other ball players! There are many good ball players who didn't make it into the "Hall". It is not for everyone, it is the mountain top.

The Supreme Court of the United States is the "Hall of Fame" for the judiciary of America. It should be for the best of the best! Names like John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, William Howard Taft, William O. Douglas, Louis J. Brandeis, and Oliver Wendell Holmes are the names of some who have sat on the highest court of the land. This short list is pretty impressive to say the least. We should be very picky about who will sit on this court.

Elena Kagan has been rumored to be the next nominee for the Supreme Court by Barack Obama. She is currently the Solicitor General of the United States. She is a graduate of Princeton, holds a masters degree from Oxford, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law and was also the dean of Harvard Law School. Her education is excellent, her intelligence is unquestioned. The problem I have with Ms. Kagan is her lack of real judicial experience; she has never sat on the bench, not for a traffic ticket, a felony, a misdemeanor,..., no experience in the real world of a judge except as a law clerk for Abner Mikva at the D.C. Court of Appeals. To take a phrase from baseball, she got no time " in the bigs". We have no example of her ability to "play with the Hall of Famers". This is a big jump in the world of law and America deserves someone with a proven track record. As I said earlier, I believe Ms. Kagan is a very intelligent person, but is she ready?

There are numerous judges in our nation who are experts on constitutional law, with decades of experience on the bench that merit consideration for this high appointment. Maybe Ms. Kagan needs a little seasoning in the "minors" before we throw her into the "World Series". I think President Obama should check the roster before he takes a chance on a rookie!