Are you as smart as HLN viewers?

CNN’s Headline News is the bane of my existence. I’m old, which means I still go there, thinking I’ll get a running loop of the top stories and breaking news of the day. But once I get there, I’m smacked by Nancy Grace or Clark Howard. Or even worse, I remember that HLN (the new, hip name) also peppers its midday broadcasts with e-mails, Facebook comments and phone calls concerning designated news topics.

This is the point where my Bill Bixby demeanor Lou Ferrignos out.

Here’s today “topical” question: President Obama‘s nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, has never been a judge. Should this disqualify her? Should all Supreme Court justices be judges?

And then the outrage came. “How can you be on the Supreme Court if you haven’t been a judge?” “Goes to show it’s not your qualifications but who you know in the Obama administration.”

Ah yes, Americans’ knowledge of history and governmental affairs always makes their opinions well-informed. I mean, we’ve never had a Supreme Court justice devoid of bench experience, right? And if so, it was back in the early days of the court, when lawyers also ran the local general store and the livery stable. There isn’t a modern precedent. Plus, we’ve never had justices so biased as Kagan, who, as solicitor general, is part of Obama’s Justice Department.

Who was the last Supreme Court justice to serve without having previous bench experience? Find out after the jump.

That’s right, Milwaukee native William Rehnquist, who served as an Associate Justice and as Chief Justice, never was a judge. He clerked for a Supreme Court justice, had a private law practice and worked in the Justice Department under President Nixon, who appointed him to the court. He was appointed Chief Justice by President and Holy Conservative Saint Ronald Reagan.

Damn you, Obama!

PHOTOS Harvard News Office; Stanford University

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