DON'T THEY CALL THIS GUILT BY ASSOCIATION? - AT 10:55 P.M. ET:  It is almost impossible to believe this, but a leading black candidate for the open Supreme Court seat may be vetoed because she's friendly with...Justice Clarence Thomas.  Her name is Leah Ward Sears, and she's the chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.  From The Washington Post:

In naming Souter's replacement, Obama is likely to choose a liberal jurist. Some in the civil rights community are hoping that person will be an African American, such as Sears, to soothe the lingering bitterness over the appointment of Thomas, a conservative who is the court's only black justice.

But if the choice does turn out to be Sears, the nation's first black president would be nominating someone whose closest friend on the court is the very person civil rights activists have accused of failing to represent African Americans' interests.

And...

Four years ago, Thomas was about the only conservative celebrating her rise to chief justice along with Atlanta's cadre of civil rights veterans, and it made for some discomfort. The Rev. Joseph Lowery, the longtime leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, quickly called Sears to congratulate her but also let her know that he would not attend her swearing-in because Thomas would be there.

And...

With Sears, Thomas has gone beyond the subtle -- praising her kindness, calling her a wonderful person and describing her investiture as "a particularly special day and a day when my pride runs deep. . . . I never thought in my lifetime I would be able to witness a black woman as a chief justice of the state of Georgia Supreme Court."

COMMENT:  The subtext of the story is that Sears's friendship with Thomas would pose a problem for the ideologically frozen.  What a sad state of affairs that would be - if a potentially nominee is permitted to be friendly only with those who meet the approval of a certain political class.

May 9, 2009