Baseball metaphors rule SCOTUS hearing

The Republican National Committee’s judicial research team provided their interpretation of the “baseball metaphor” being used by Senators and pundits regarding the role of a Supreme Court justice.

They tweeted:

Durbin says if judges were just umpires there wld be fewer split decisions. But evry bsbll fan knows umpire calls aren’t w/o controversy.

RNCSCOTUS references remarks made by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)

Several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have used the “baseball metaphor” in their opening remarks during Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing this morning.

The metaphor, in it’s SCOTUS context at least, originated in 2005 when now-Chief Justice John Robert said that his job as a judge is to call “balls and strikes” like a baseball umpire, not to “pitch or bat” like a player.