Tim Fernholz on why regulatory appointees deserve the same scrutiny and public attention as Supreme Court justices:
The Supreme Court nomination process has damaged the deliberative nature of judicial appointments and creates an incentive for lawyers who aspire to the highest court in the land to be as boring as possible. But the hoopla around the nomination process — frequently cited as a failure of our democracy — does ensure that the president and Congress take judicial appointments and their political consequences seriously. Regulatory appointees deserve the same scrutiny and public attention — as much as the Court matters, regulators play a more immediate role in our economy.