Amar on Court Clones

Akhil Reed Amar writes in this month's Atlantic that the high Court is now packed with Justices that have nearly identical backgrounds--elite educations, prestigious clerkships, and appellate court judgeships--and why that's a problem. Amar argues that the lack of experience in Congress or at high levels in the executive branch is a particular worry:

While a bench overloaded with ex-pols would be unfortunate, the Court would benefit from having at least one or two justices who know how Washington works at the highest levels, and who have seen up close how presidents actually think, how senators truly spend their days, how bills in fact move through Congress, and so on--in short, one or two justices whose resumes resemble those of former Secretary of State John Marshall, Hugo Black, and Robert Jackson.