A colleague of Scott Matheson ends conservative conspiracy theory

(Photo credit: Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
Scott M. Matheson, Jr., Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit


On Wednesday, President Obama nominated University of Utah law professor Scott Matheson for the Tenth Circuit. This is the kind of kind consensus nominee for a judgeship that deserves wide support...

Unfortunately, however, a few conservative bloggers have found something sinister about the timing of the nomination. The Weekly Standard, for example, was quick to opine in this blog post that “the timing of this nomination looks suspicious” given that Scott Matheson’s brother, Jim Matheson, is a Democratic congressman who is undecided on how to vote on Obamacare. A few other right-wing blogs have echoed this theme.

Unfortunately for conspiracy theorists, the facts show that the Scott Matheson nomination has nothing to with the health care debate. The Tenth Circuit vacancy that the Matheson was just nominated to fill was created on May 5, 2009, when another University of Utah law professor — Michael McConnell — resigned his judgeship to accept a teaching position at Stanford Law School (press release here). Within a matter of days, it was widely understood in the Utah legal community that Matheson would be the front runner for the nomination. He was the obvious choice for the Obama administration, given Matheson’s legal acumen, extensive experience in state and federal public service, and long Democratic political connections (his father, Scott Matheson, Sr., was a well-regarded and moderate Democratic Governor of Utah 1977 to 1985 and Scott himself ran for Governor in 2004) After that, the Obama administrator presumably pondered the choice — their delay in moving forward on nomination having drawn the attention of this blog and many other commentators.

I can add on factoid on the timeline to the nomination. In approximately mid-January, my wife and I were both contacted by the American Bar Association in connection with the ABA evaluation process. The fact that the ABA was evaluating Matheson at that time means that the Admininstration had already made the determination to move foward with the nomination — and, indeed, had decided at least a month or two earlier, as an FBI background check would automatically precede an ABA investigation. Given that the ABA was evaluating Scott in roughly January, one would expect an announcement roughly six weeks later – exactly as happened here...

According to the Salt Lake Tribune story on the issue, Senator Hatch said he knew Scott Matheson was going to be the nominee more than a month ago and disputes any idea that Obama was trying to get a vote for the nomination. “I can assure you that,” Hatch said.

http://volokh.com/2010/03/05/scott-matheson-excellent-nomination-for-the-tenth-circuit/


Previous post

Obama nominates Scott Matheson Jr. to 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (Thu Mar-04-10)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7838359&mesg_id=7838359

up obstructions despite facts, and for those not paying attention, it often works. Thanks for clarifying this nomination.

The transparency of the GOP lie machine really shows just how far into the bog that they have sunk.
They really don't even try to pretend to make their accusations look plausible any longer.
They just say whatever they want: regardless of reality.

Can they slip any deeper (both the GOP and their mouth-breathing supporters) into the muck then they already have without looking like escapees from the crazy ward?


I really don't want to witness what their next downward transformation may be.

:evilgrin:

Thanks for the info, usregimechange - it is important to attempt to get ahead of the attack here.

It may not matter much though, sadly, because they spew their lies and outlandish claims and get a hefty platform for it with nary a word of resistance from 'journalists' aka talking heads ...


Much more here:

http://mediamatters.org/research/201003040009