Lang? Isn't she a lefty?
Yes. We want the left flank sufficiently mollified and the right flank sufficiently panicked so as to inspire a little conciliation on all flanks.
“The Supremes” · Season 5
In this episode: Josh Lyman (3), Josiah Bartlet (2), Toby Ziegler (2), Leo McGarry (1), Charlie Young (1), Debbie (1)
If... If we were gonna try this. What would be the plan?
We give the President and Leo the name. We bring Christopher Mulready in. We bring Lang back in. Hopefully the two of them woo the pants off the President, and he agrees to the deal without noticing he's standing in the gaze of history, pantless.
I hate to do this, but it's Rina, sir. The girl in the dress with the flowers--
Just now?
Yes.
What'd I call her?
Lana.
Who's Lana?
I'm guessing an exotic dancer from your spotty youth.
Where's the Senator?
He's with CJ. He got me a little drunk.
Is he leaving?
I think he's getting CJ a little drunk.
JCJustice Christopher Mulready
Who's at the top of the list? [sees Bartlet's hesitation] If I leaked it, would they believe me?
Brad Shelton.
JCJustice Christopher Mulready
[hesitant] Really.
You don't like him?
JCJustice Christopher Mulready
He's a fine jurist. And in the event that Carmine, Lafayette, Hoyt, Clark, and Brannagan all dropped dead, the middle would still be well tended.
[Chuckling] You want another Brady.
JCJustice Christopher Mulready
Sure. Just like you'd like another Ashland, who wouldn't? The court was at it's best when Brady was fighting Ashland.
Plenty of good law written by the voices of moderation.
JCJustice Christopher Mulready
Who writes the extraordinary dissent? The one man minority decision whose time hasn't come but 20 years later, some circuit court clerk digs it up at 3 in the morning. Brennan rallying against censorship, Harlans jeremiad on Jim Crow.
Maybe you someday.
JCJustice Christopher Mulready
Hm. They can't put me on The Court. Just like you can't put Evelyn Lang on The Court. It's Sheltons from here on in.
There are 4000 protesters outside this building, worried about who is going to land in that seat. We can't afford to alienate all of them.
JCJustice Christopher Mulready
We all have our roles to play, Sir. Yours is to nominate someone who doesn't alienate people.
JCJustice Christopher Mulready
So why a racial preference and not an economic one?
Because affirmative action is about a legacy of racial oppression.
JCJustice Christopher Mulready
It's about compromising admission standards.
That's bull. Excuse me. It's about leveling the playing field after 300 years...
JCJustice Christopher Mulready
See, this is where the liberal argument goes off the tracks. You get stuck in the past. Now, you want to come back at me with "Grading is based on past performance, but admissions should be based on potential, on how a candidate may thrive with this sort of opportunity, and studies show that affirmative action admits have a higher predisposition to contribute to society."
Hang on, I've gotta write this down.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The West Wing pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.