Barack Obama has been talking about shaking up the Supreme Court by making his first appointment a non-judge. If he really wants to rattle Scalia’s cage, he’ll give the nod to Saul. Criminal attorney Saul Goodman boasts a haircut described as “business mullet” and works out of a New Mexico strip mall with an inflatable Statue of Liberty on its roof (his office is filled with similarly cheesy/ patriotic décor). Loud, flirtatious, and utterly smitten with himself, he’s a clown with a knack for getting what he wants. Oh, and he’s actually only pretending to be Jewish for the benefit of his largely Hispanic clientele: “My real name’s McGill. The Jew thing I just do for the homeboys.”

Sadly, Saul’s appointment seems unlikely, partly because we don’t know his stance on abortion and more so because he is a character on AMC’s Breaking Bad, which tells the tale of a high school chemistry teacher (Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston) who discovers he has cancer and, facing his mortality, naturally decides to produce some topnotch methamphetamines to leave a proper inheritance for his family. It’s the network’s follow-up to the acclaimed Mad Men and in my opinion easily the better of the programs: darker and funnier all at once, with the best actor on television in Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman, the loser of an ex-student Walt tabs to handle distribution for him. I started watching in the second season, and creator Vince Gilligan and his fellow writers have created a world that feels like The Sopranos as helmed by Japan’s maniac director Takashi Miike, leading to such unforgettable lines as, “What’s the matter? Never seen a severed head on a turtle before?” (Impressively, the scene’s even weirder than this would suggest.)

Goodman may be their masterwork, starting with the brilliant casting of the part. Saul is portrayed by Bob Odenkirk, best known for HBO’s beloved sketch comedy Mr. Show with Bob and David, which had the misfortune of being on the network before it acquired Carrie, Tony, and actual viewers. His partner David Cross got off to a stronger post-Show career, starring in everything from the adored Arrested Development to the lucrative (if decidedly less loved) live action Alvin and The Chipmunks movie. Odenkirk shifted behind the camera, creating movies like Let’s Go to Prison that found him working with people like Dax Shephard. Now he’s found a dream role, suggesting he is the most interesting all-around actor to emerge from the sketch world since Bill Murray.

Odenkirk makes Saul a joke, but invests him with a deep and, we soon realize, utterly justified confidence. Taken on by Walt and Jesse to stop an arrested friend of Jesse’s from testifying against them, Walt reveals himself to be ruthless in a way neither can match, helpfully observing it would probably be easiest if they just had their associate shivved in prison. (They decline this suggestion.) Goodman quickly finds another only slightly less cold-blooded solution, then turns the tables on Walt and blackmails his way into an ownership stake in the operation. Listening to their attempts to cope with the death of another of Jesse’s friends, he cuts to the heart of the matter: “You guys suck at peddling meth, period.”

Obama will doubtless make a more conventional pick, but if he wants someone capable of standing up to John Roberts, he knows where to turn.

 

Man of the Moment appears each Wednesday.

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