John Fund resurrects a longstanding desire of mine to see Chris Cox nominated to the Supreme Court. Unfortunatey, Chris has just settled into the SEC, where his talents are needed, and where I suspect he has a large agenda in mind. Nevertheless, if the President asks (and he might, because Chris could solve a lot of problems for him right now), I suspect Chris's sense of duty would win out.

Chris is another John Roberts type of potential nominee: brilliant, organized, articulate, and simply dripping with a reasonableness that would come through in Judiciary Committee hearings. Everything that he has ever done in life, he has done superlatively. Just like Roberts. His long service in the House of Representatives would serve him well, also.

Having known him for 30 years and followed his career, I know that he is a master at examining witnesses at hearings. Being on the other side of the witness table would be a day at the beach for him. He is far too polite to do so, but he could easily finish the Senators' questions for them should they stumble verbally. He has the ability to dazzle.

John Fund notes that Chris is a Harvard Law grad, but that is just half the story. Chris enrolled in the ultra—elite joint MBA—LLD program at Harvard, alternating years at Harvard Business School (President Bush's alma mater, too) with years at Harvard Law School. Chris and I took all our first year classes together as members of Section H, MBA Class of 1976. As the two students from the Twin Cities in the Section, we naturally got to know each other. I have the absolutely highest possible opinion of his abilities and his temperament. He was one of the people in the Section that everyone listened to avidly, because we discovered that when he had something to say, it was well worth hearing.

Because of his strong background in business, management, and securities issues (an important area on which the Court often rules with profound consequences for the economy, but with lamentable insight on the real world effects of their judgments) Chris would add a needed perspective to the Court. As far as I know, he would be the first MBA Justice, just as President Bush is the first MBA president.

I had internally ruled out any further consideration of Chris for the Court when he took the SEC chairmanship. But the peculiar circumstances of the moment make him the one person I can think of who both could meet the desires of the conservative punditocrats and quite probably be confirmed by the Senate.

Everybody wins. "Justice Cox" has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Thomas Lifson   10 28 05