Circuit Judge Troy Bolton Wilkinson urges an HSM approach to judicial appointments

The entire Obama family, as detailed here and here, is obviously quite familiar with Disney Channel productions and surely knows well (perhaps even too well) all the musical stylings of Troy and Gabriella and all the East High Wildcats of High School Musical fame.  Thus, I cannot help but speculate that Fourth Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III was somehow hoping to tap into the HSM vibe when he put together this op-ed concerning judicial appointments that appears today in the Washington Post. 

Specially, the entire Wilkinson op-ed reads like an effort to try to encourage President Obama not to be too ideologically cliquey when making his judicial picks.  (An anti-clique message is, of course, at the heart of the whole HSM message).  And, as the excerpts below reveal, the closing line of the Wilkinson op-ed has now ensured that I will have the closing number of HSM I stuck in my head all afternoon.

Congress put federal circuit judges on panels of three for a reason — namely, so that we could listen as well as talk, give as well as take and make the accommodations (more narrow rulings, less strident opinions) without which appellate courts cannot function.  The 4th Circuit has never prided itself on ideology but on the collegiality that takes minds out of concrete and prevents personal animosities from clouding and distorting the essential act of judgment….

To be sure, there will be change and disagreement on the 4th Circuit, but I pray that coming appointments to our court will not cause the doors of communication and compromise to slam shut.  A polarized 4th Circuit would bring no discernible public benefit.  At the end of the day, it’s not lines of battle; it’s not us and them.  Americans are in this together, and that includes the courts.

Sing it with me all you East High Wildcats on the federal judiciary:

Together, together, together every judge
Together, together, come on lets have some fun
Together, no lines of battle or getting uptight
Together, together, come on lets do this right

Here and now its time for judge appointments
I finally figured it out (yeah yeah)
That all our rights have no limitations
That’s what its all about

Every judge is special in their own way
We make each other strong (each other strong)
Were not the same
Were different in a good way
Together’s where we belong

Some related posts:

• When will President Obama start making judicial nominations to the lower courts?
• A modest(?) proposal for filling the bench from the ivory tower
• Urging President-elect Obama to elevate district judges to the circuit courts
• How a new administration is likely to impact federal sentencing practice
• Why federal sentencing reformers must focus on the USSC and lower courts
• Are we on the verge of a new changed era concerning federal sentencing law and policy?
• What might 2009 have in store for . . . the federal judiciary and its criminal caseload?