Zel and Lisa tied in blogland voting for Supreme gig

My first attempt to go interactive with this thing is not exactly burning up the blogosphere. On Friday I posted links to the applications of the three final panelists for the opening on the Missouri Supreme Court and asked the people to play governor and pick their judge of choice. This post caught the attention of the Office of Administration for the state government, which had somebody checking that post a number of times, I guess to see what people had to say.

People didn't have anything to say. Not here, anyway. One lawyer who knows Zel M. Fischer picked Zel, but did so in an email to me. Another lawyer (a black woman) picked Lisa White Hardwick, but did so in an email to me which went something like this:

"I read your blog and accepted your challenge. I pretented to be the governor for the State of Missouri seeking the most qualified applicant. Then, I opened each application and read them all thoroughly with their attachments, and guess what??? I STILL PICKED THE BLACK ONE. Lisa White Hardwick with her Harvard Law Degree and her teaching experience in Japan and all of her publications and literary accomplishments is FAR SUPERIOR to the other candidates. Now, which one will the governor pick?"

She added, "I am forwarding this to the Mound City Bar Association so that they can take your challenge and be prepared when the governor makes his choice."

For those who don't typically count apples and oranges, there has only been one black person to ever serve on the Missouri Supreme Court, Ronnie L. White, and he has since retired and taken up private practice. If Gov. Matt Blunt does pick White Hardwick, that would mean the first two black Supremes in Missouri were both named White!

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The pic is of justices from the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District: Judges Ronald R. Holliger (left), Edwin H. Smith (center) and Lisa White Hardwick (right). Holliger also has a shot at the Supreme gig, along with Zel and Lisa.