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Senate confirms Sotomayor for high court. Sonia Sotomayor won confirmation Thursday [8/6/2009] as the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice in a history-making Senate vote that capped a summer-long debate heavy with politics. According to NBC News, she will be sworn in on Saturday — Chief Justice John Roberts will administer both the constitutional and judicial oaths.
Sotomayor's Ties to La Raza. [Scroll down] It's difficult to defend someone belonging to a group called "The Race" by accusing her opponents of playing racial politics. The last thing the Democrats want is for the American people to know about the National Council of La Raza, their radical agenda and Sotomayor's association with the group. Sotomayor is a member of La Raza and her comments about "Wise Latinas" being superior to white men appeared in the La Raza Law Journal.
Sonia Sotomayor: From Biased and Proud to just Biased. In spite of failing to prove her point, Sotomayor's argument does prove something: that for her it is indeed impossible to get past personal biases. Her only mistake is that she goes on to assume that the same is true for everyone — which it is not. Her unshakeable commitment to the idea that white guys cannot ever realize the error of their ways, even after hundreds of years of judicial unfairness to minorities and at least 50 years of consistent scrapping/overruling of all those old mistaken laws, is uncanny.
University experts state the obvious:
UT researchers predict Sotomayor to be most liberal. Researchers in the Department of Political Science at the University of Tennessee are predicting that newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will cast a liberal vote in roughly two-thirds of cases during her first term. The prediction, if accurate, would make her the most liberal member of the current court.
Sotomayor Would Not Concede a Right to Self-Defense. When Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) asked Wednesday [7/15/2009] whether citizens have a right to self-defense, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor told the Senate Judiciary Committee, "I don't know." Coburn had asked, "As a citizen of this country, do you believe innately in my ability to have self-defense of myself — personal self-defense? Do I have a right to personal self-defense?"
Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation hearings are turning into bad joke. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor joked about going home and getting her gun Wednesday [7/15/2009]. In one of the most hilarious moments of a boring and repetitive third day of her Senate confirmation hearing, Sotomayor made the gun analogy after Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn repeatedly prodded her to explain if the Second Amendment gave every American a right to self-defense. "Do I have a right to personal self-defense?" Coburn said. Sotomayor said she couldn't recall a single federal law that dealt with that issue.
Sotomayor's Bias. Other than declaring war, neither house of Congress has a more solemn responsibility than the Senate's role in confirming justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. As the Senate considers the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Americans are watching to see if this nominee would lend her support to those who've declared war on the rights of America's 80 million gun owners. After the first day of confirmation hearings, gun owners have good reason to worry.
She's Lying. Even some liberals are frustrated by Sonia Sotomayor's carefully plotted answers this week. ... Sotomayor's performance, predictable though it was, drove some otherwise sympathetic observers up a metaphorical wall. For example, Mike Seidman, an unambiguously liberal Georgetown University law professor, fumed that he "was completely disgusted by Judge Sotomayor's testimony. If she was not perjuring herself, she is intellectually unqualified to be on the Supreme Court. If she was perjuring herself, she is morally unqualified."
Of Race, Gender and Justice. Judge Sotomayor's offensive words are a reflection of her much greater body of work as an ethnic activist and judge. Identity politics is at the core of who this woman is. And let me be clear here, I am not talking about the understandable pride in one's ancestry or ethnic roots, which is both common and natural in a country as diverse and pluralistic as ours. Identity politics involves a sense of grievance against the majority, a feeling that racism permeates American society and its institutions, and the belief that members of one's own group are victims in a perpetual power struggle with the majority.
The Evasions and Misstatements of Sonia Sotomayor. There is plenty of reason to conclude, as [The Washington Post's Eva] Rodriquez did, that Sotomayor was being less than honest in her testimony. Many of Sotomayor's misstatements were blatant and easily revealed.
Sotomayor in the Dock. With near unanimity, mainstream media outlets have presented [Sonia] Sotomayor as a genial striver whose inspiring personal story of struggle and triumph against the steepest odds makes her an ideal choice to serve the country's highest court. The theme has been echoed by Congressional Democrats, who have suggested that Sotomayor is such a superbly qualified nominee that only the most cynically partisan, and perhaps even racist political hacks would challenge her nomination.
Rachel Maddow Spins Anti-Racism into Racism. The facts would be clear to anyone familiar with the situation: Barack Obama nominated a racialist judicial activist who ruled on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that banning felons currently in prison from voting is a form of racial prejudice according to the "plain terms" of the Voting Rights Act. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs warns Republicans to "be exceedlingly careful" in opposing her, lest they be branded racists. The Left and mainstream media (but then I repeat myself) trumpet the historic importance of the first African-American president appointing the first Latina Supreme Court justice.
Obama the Trickster. This administration is just filled with racial anger. So why would Sotomayor be its first Supreme Court nominee? ... Sotomayor believes in the US Constitution like Obama does: not at all. But Sotomayor is not nearly as good as Obama at this double game, seeming rather dim-witted. She's given away her Hispanic Victimhood at least half a dozen times in public, not exactly what you expect from a Justice of the Supreme Court. She would be a living embarrassment to the US Constitution. ... Her job on the Supremes will be to keep the Affirmative Action Establishment in power.
Pro-Life Group Disputes Sotomayor's View. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that she considered Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, to be "settled law." ... During questioning from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Sotomayor also said that "all precedents of the Supreme Court I consider settled law." ... Dr. Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, said Roe is "anything but settled law."
FOX News: Sotomayor Opposes Gun Rights. The National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre said on the "Glenn Beck Program" Monday that President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor does not deserve to be on the high court because she does not support Americans' right to self-defense. On the day Sotomayor's confirmation hearings began, LaPierre stated that the Second Amendment is a "constant" throughout American history. "People want to be free," he said. "With a firearm I can protect my family... and Judge Sotomayor doesn't get that," LaPierre told Beck. "She should not be on the Supreme Court."
NRA growing more alarmed over Sotomayor. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has questioned Sonia Sotomayor's fitness to serve on the Supreme Court, a troubling sign for the nominee in what has so far been a smooth confirmation hearing. The NRA is considered one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington and holds sway with Democrats from conservative states, who could side with Republicans in opposing the nominee.
Sotomayor Let Wrongly Convicted Man Languish in Prison. One person who is not so thrilled about the prospective elevation of Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court is a man named Jeffrey Deskovic. Mr. Deskovic spent 16 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit — the last six years, Deskovic claims, being a direct result of the actions (or, rather, the inaction) of Judge Sotomayor.
Sotomayor's self-contradictions. After two days of hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, it appears that her strategy for confirmation is to contradict herself at every turn. She spent much of yesterday claiming not to have meant the things she actually said or not to have ruled the way she actually ruled. For the first time, therefore, it is not just her judgment but also her integrity that is in question.
Parsing Sotomayor's Declining Poll Numbers. The recent Rasmussen poll that found a significant deterioration in the level of support for Supreme Court nominee Sonya Sotomayor warrants a tad more scrutiny. In a poll conducted May 26-27 Rasmussen found that likely voters wanted to confirm Sotomayor by the margin of 45% to 29%. This was an underwhelming margin, to be sure, given all the laudatory media coverage, and may have been an early warning sign that Sotomayor could be vulnerable.
Public Support for Sotomayor Falls After Supreme Court Reversal. A heavily publicized U.S. Supreme Court reversal of an appeals court ruling by Judge Sonia Sotomayor has at least temporarily diminished public support for President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, conducted on the two nights following the Supreme Court decision, finds that 37% now believe Sotomayor should be confirmed while 39% disagree.
Judge Sotomayor — more liberal than the average liberal. According to the [Washington] Post's analysis, Sotomayor took the liberal position in 59 percent of her "split" cases. The average appeals court judge appointed by a Democratic president voted "liberal" in 52 percent of such cases. ... Sotomayor, then, is to the "left" of the average judge appointed by a Democrat.
Uncommon Detail Marks Rulings by Sotomayor. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's opinions show support for the rights of criminal defendants and suspects, skepticism of corporations, and sympathy for plaintiffs alleging discrimination, an analysis of her record by The Washington Post found. And she has delivered those rulings with a level of detail considered unusual for an appellate judge.
Democrats Double Down on the Sotomayor Race Card. Democrats are hustling the vote because they don't want to give Americans time to be fully informed about Sotomayor. What we already know calls for the Senate to proceed with caution, not full-speed ahead. A Supreme Court nomination shouldn't be a summary, rubber-stamp decision. Sotomayor's record including 3,600 opinions, hundreds of speeches and other writings needs serious and thorough review.
Firefighter to Testify Against Sotomayor. Republicans plan to call a white firefighter whose reverse discrimination claim was rejected by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to testify against her. ... Sotomayor was part of an appellate court panel that rejected Ricci's claim. The Supreme Court reversed the ruling last week.
Legal Expert Says Sotomayor Aims to 'Annihilate' Losing Side in Cases. Imagine, if you will, an expert on the federal judiciary told a Washington Post reporter a few years ago during the Sam Alito nomination that the conservative jurist took "a kind of carpet-bombing" approach to the law, showing a determination "not to just defeat the other side, but to annihilate it" when rendering his opinions from the bench. It's hard to image that being buried deep in an article on the jurist. But of course the nominee in question isn't Alito, it's President Obama's pick of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace outgoing liberal Justice David Souter.
Sotomayor's secret files. We wonder what Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has to hide. Her confirmation hearing starts Monday, but the White House refuses to turn over boxes of documents for review about her past. Republican senators requested board meeting minutes of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, where Ms. Sotomayor served on the board of directors from 1980 to 1992. ... Contrary to White House dodging, these board meetings may be important in evaluating Ms. Sotomayor's legal and policy reasoning because the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund was involved in a wide range of controversial legal cases. For instance, the fund fought to abolish the death penalty.
Sotomayor's Confirmation "Not A Done Deal". While Republicans are short on votes they have a plethora of issues, many of which resonate with the public at large. And indeed recent polling shows that voters aren't that enamored of the "wise Latina" Supreme Court nominee.
GOP: Sotomayor approval not guaranteed. The Senate Judiciary Committee's top Republican cautioned Friday [7/10/2009] that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation is not a "foregone conclusion" amid what he said was growing concern from moderate to conservative Senate Democrats.
The Agenda and the Moment. Pres. Barack Obama has made a tactical mistake, one that is characteristic of the man. Suffering, as he plainly does, from a tendency toward self-aggrandizement, President Obama has undertaken to do too much at once, seeking a radical re-ordering of American life ... Republicans probably will not stop Obama from installing Sonia Sotomayor, a left-wing activist, on the Supreme Court. But they will want to make him fight for it, and in fighting expend some of the political capital that might go toward the rest of his agenda.
Sotomayor plays the race card. A biased judge should not be promoted to a higher court. Yet the Obama administration has not been able to put to rest fears that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor might let ethnic grievances sway her decisions on the bench. That's exactly what it appears Judge Sotomayor did in the Ricci v. DeStefano case, in which she ruled that white firefighters could be denied promotions they clearly had earned.
Sotomayor and Quotas: Appellate judges often get reversed by the Supreme Court, but this reversal could prove more troublesome to Sotomayor. She has made it clear in a series of speeches over the years that she considers her own ethnic identity crucial to how she decides cases. No fewer than a half-dozen times, Sotomayor has uttered some variation of her now infamous remarks...
Firefighter Case Shows Seamy Side of Racial Politics. The Supreme Court's decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, the case of the New Haven firefighters, was a ringing endorsement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964's ban on racial discrimination and a repudiation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's decision in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. While five justices flatly rejected Sotomayor's ruling, even the four dissenters wouldn't have let stand her ruling allowing the results of a promotion exam to be set aside because no black firefighter had a top score.
Sotomayor Has Record That Doesn't Inspire. For the fourth time in six cases, the Supreme Court of the United States has reversed a decision for which Judge Sonia Sotomayor voted on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. If this nominee were a white male, would this not raise questions about whether he should be elevated to a court that has found his previous decisions wrong two-thirds of the time when those decisions have been reviewed?
So Much For Wise Latinas. The one advantage Sotomayor's talk-to-the-hand opinion has over Justice Ginsburg's prolix dissent is that brevity prevented Sotomayor from having to explain why quotas aren't quotas. That was left to Ginsburg. Liberals desperately want race quotas — as long as quotas never come to their offices. ... Based on her lifetime of experience working as a firefighter, Ginsburg said: "Relying heavily on written tests to select fire officers is a questionable practice, to say the least." Liberals prefer a more objective test, such as race.
Legal group's records tell little about Sotomayor. A Puerto Rican civil rights organization advised by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor campaigned against seating conservative Robert Bork on the high court in the late 1980s, according to new documents that shed light on the group that's become a key focus of Republicans questioning Sotomayor's fitness to be a justice. The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund officially opposed Bork...
What Will She Do For An Encore? Short of writing "get whitey," It's difficult to imagine how Judge Sotomayor could have fouled up the Ricci case any more than she did. Let's count the ways. First, her panel issued a summary order in a case that ended up being heard by the Supreme Court and generating a 5-4 decision with nearly 100 pages worth of opinions. Second, Sotomayor's panel was sharply criticized by her mentor, Judge Cabranes, for its "perfunctory disposition" of the case, in an opinion which suggests that Cabranes believed that Sotomayor and her fellow panel members were attempting to bury the matter.
Connecticut Firefighters 'Vindicated' by Supreme Court Ruling. Justice Anthony Kennedy authored the 5-4 opinion in favor of Ricci and his fellow firefighters. It included no specific reference to Sotomayor. But Republicans skeptical of Sotomayor swiftly used it to bolster their case that the high court nominee may let her personal views influence her judicial decisions. "It was quite a rebuke actually to her and the opinion that was rendered," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told FOX News Radio.
Sonia Sotomayor Reversed (Again) by US Supreme Court. Given this latest reversal (Sotomayor has a history of being reversed by the SCOTUS), President Obama must act to restore credibility to the nominating process. Nominations to the Supreme Court should NOT be used as thinly disguised program of affirmative action. Nor should the process be used in an attempt to troll for Hispanic votes or any other demographic group with large numbers of voters. President Obama should immediately withdraw Sotomayor's name from consideration and begin his search anew.
A judicial embarrassment. The Supreme Court of the United States reversed a decision today [6/29/2009] that will prove to be a major embarrassment to the Obama Administration. ... The reversal of the decision in which Sotomayor helped uphold the principle of an employer's ability to discriminate against its employees, so long as those being discriminated against are not members of "minority" groups, demonstrates a return to sanity based on sound constitutional reasoning and represents and embarrassment to the president.
A Supreme Case Against Sotomayor. The Supreme Court's overturning of high-court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's ruling in the New Haven firefighter case exposes what lies at the core of her misguided philosophy: stark racial favoritism.
Supreme Court gives victory to white firefighters. The Supreme Court handed a victory Monday [6/29/2009] to a group of white firefighters charging racial discrimination, while also giving some fodder to critics of President Barack Obama's pending nominee for the high court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
The New 'Separate but Equal'. On the surface, it seems like a blatant case of unlawful discrimination. The fire department in New Haven, Conn., administered an exam for firemen seeking promotions. "Many firefighters studied for months, at considerable personal and financial cost," as Justice Anthony Kennedy recounts on behalf of the Supreme Court's majority in Ricci v. DeStefano. When the results came out, the city decided to deny promotions to the men who had earned them — because they were of the wrong race.
New Haven Firefighters. In this one case we see the multiple issues which will be at the center of Sotomayor's confirmation hearing. And what's more we have a story that the average American can understand and relate to. The disabled guy worked hard under adverse circumstances and did better than most of his non-disabled peers, only to be told, "Sorry, the 'numbers' didn't come out right." And this is justice? Most Americans, I suspect, will think not and will want to know why Sotomayor acted as she did.
Sotomayor's Racialist Judicial Activism: Felon "disenfranchisement" is the radical idea that those imprisoned for serious infractions of the law should not be voting for those who will make it. This prudent practice has a history in the United States that predates the Constitution. ... Seeking to overturn several thousands of years of juridical precedent on the flimsiest of bases qualifies Sotomayor as a judicial activist par excellence, and conservatives ought not let the point go unmade because any action against this Latina will bring cries of racism.
An Affirmative Action Baby: Sotomayor's opposition to test scores in particular and meritocracy in general is caused and reinforced by her personal history. Sotomayor has called herself an "Affirmative Action baby" and does not believe her test scores merited her acceptance at Princeton or Yale Law School. "If we had gone through the traditional numbers route of [entering Princeton and Yale Law], it would have been highly questionable if I would have been accepted," she said.
Pat Leahy's Fish Story. In 2002 Vermont Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy, then as now the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was a vocal opponent of Bush Third Circuit Court nominee D. Brooks Smith because of Smith's former membership in an all-male fishing club in Pennsylvania. Today, Leahy is silent on the membership of Obama Supreme Court nominee and sitting Second Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor in the Belizean Grove, an elite, all-female club.
Sotomayor's ethical oversight. Judge Sotomayor has tried to make — in the words of liberal columnist Michael Kinsley — "the preposterous argument that the Belizean Grove [to which she belongs] isn't a women's club," even though membership in that ritzy club is open to women only. We don't care that she belongs to such a club, or if gentlemen belong to clubs for men only, for that matter. But what Mr. Kinsley called her "brazen whopper" and "insult to the citizenry" is pertinent. That's her practice of twisting rules and standards to fit her circumstances. This calls her veracity into question.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. "In Judge Sotomayor, Obama offers the personal embodiment of his liberal judicial activist philosophy that places 'empathy' above the rule of law. Judge Sotomayor's leadership positions with the PRLDEF suggest she is more than willing to advance a liberal, race-based agenda through the court system. And for this Judge Sotomayor owes an explanation to the American people," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Bailing Out Sotomayor. No reasonable person can deny that there are things in Judge Sotomayor's record that could raise serious concerns in a reasonable observer. And as her record is examined, more and more questions seem to surface. We all know about her statements that the "court of appeals is where policy is made." Also widely known are her statements that ethnicity and gender "may and will make a difference in our judging." ... In light of those comments, the Ricci v. DeStefano case has to be troubling to everyone.
Sotomayor's 'Fundamental' Flaws. Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor claim that her Second Amendment rulings are examples of "judicial restraint." The problem is that she's restraining the Second Amendment. Judge Sotomayor has ruled twice that the right to keep and bear arms is not a "fundamental right." The second time was after the U.S. Supreme Court said that it is.
Halfway to the Supremes? We are at precisely the halfway point between the official announcement of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination and the scheduled opening of her Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. So what do we know about her so far? Judge Sotomayor's success is an inspirational story, and she has shown an admirable commitment to serving her community. The record also shows her to be a bad judge.
Glass Ceilings Aren't Glass Slippers. You don't have to be from Venus or Mars to notice that Sonia Sotomayor was appreciated more for her Hispanic roots than for female gifts. That's how President Obama introduced her. Firsts are firsts, after all, and Sandra Day O'Connor was followed by Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and that was that for a woman expecting recognition as a pioneer. No one any longer regards it as worth remarking when a woman becomes a doctor, lawyer, editor, astronaut or CEO. Women have shattered a lot of glass ceilings, and when nobody notices the broken glass, that's a sign of progress.
Sotomayor Vs. The Death Penalty. A recently unearthed memo not disclosed on the questionnaire filed with the Senate Judiciary Committee shows that the empathy that the Supreme Court nominee feels is more for the predators among us than their victims. It also shows that some of the reasons this self-proclaimed "wise Latina" has for opposing capital punishment are bogus and flawed.
The diversity mess. U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has scolded Americans for being "cowards" and not talking more about race. Now Mr. Holder is getting that "dialogue" with the recent controversy surrounding President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Most of the furor surrounds statements on race by Judge Sotomayor herself.
Miss Affirmative Action, 2009. What are the grounds for rejecting Sonia Sotomayor? No one has brought forth the slightest evidence she has the intellectual candlepower to sit on the Roberts court. By her own admission, Sotomayor is an "affirmative action baby." Though the Obama media have been ballyhooing her brilliance — No. 1 in high school, No. 1 at Princeton, editor of Yale Law Review — her academic career appears to have been a fraud from beginning to end, a testament to Ivy League corruption.
More Scandals Haunt Sotomayor. Sotomayor was not born in Puerto Rico. She was born in the Bronx in New York. Still, she apparently counts Puerto Rico, not America, as her home. This is a matter that must be covered by the media and explored by the Senate. The radical or Marxist view is that Puerto Rico is under colonial occupation and deserves independence. Sotomayor holds that view. Her 1976 thesis expressed support for Puerto Rican independence because she feared the "Americanization" of Puerto Rico.
Sotomayor's club for women only. It was revealed Friday [6/5/2009] that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor belongs to the Belizean Grove, a highly selective club for women only. Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont announced Tuesday that her confirmation hearings will begin on July 13. If this judge were a man, the nomination would never make it to the Senate for hearings.
Update:
Sotomayor quits women's club after GOP criticism. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor resigned Friday [6/19/2009] from an elite all-women's club after Republicans questioned her participation in it. Sotomayor said she resigned from the Belizean Grove to prevent the issue from becoming a distraction in her confirmation hearings.
The Editor says...
Distraction? That's what the hearings are for -- to uncover disqualifications like this one.
Sotomayor Qualifications: Why Bother With The Constitution? As the confirmation ritual of Sonia Sotomayor continues to play out, it is becoming grimly apparent that the only relevant issue, her worthiness (or more accurately, her total lack thereof) as a guardian of the Constitution, will be no more of a consideration for Republicans than it ever was for Barack Obama. Flowery rhetoric and her heart-wrenching biography notwithstanding, if Obama ever had any concern whatsoever for the nation's founding charter, he never would have nominated a radical judicial activist like Sotomayor in the first place.
Journalists Ignore Reality That 'Post-Racial' President Isn't. Had Obama truly wanted to bury the issue, he wouldn't have gone against one of his strongest bases of support — unions. The New Haven Firefighters Local 825 also sued the city to make the test count. The head of the New Haven Hispanic Firefighters Association called the city's decision "a travesty." Had Obama truly wanted to bury the issue, he wouldn't have chosen a justice with such an activist view of race-based government. In fact, Sotomayor believes more in the "empathy" that Obama was looking for than law itself. Sotomayor's "modern approach" essentially means judges get to do whatever they want. In New Haven, that meant talented, skilled and knowledgeable firefighters weren't promoted because Sotomayor and the city didn't like the results.
Look! Up In The Sky! It's Sotomayor! President Obama claims that Sotomayor is smart. He even claims that she believes in the Constitution. But when one stops following his pointed finger into the sky where his nominee supposedly soars, we see that there is a plethora of evidence on the ground that contradicts the rhetoric. ... There is one case in particular that sums this point up so succinctly and makes it impossible to ignore that Sonia Sotomayor is neither smart nor a believer in our Constitution. That case is Maloney vs. Cuomo...
Judge Sotomayor, a mythic 'Hispanic'. The supposedly racial term was pushed by Nixon to lump distinct Spanish-speaking groups into one voting bloc. There's no such thing, and the judge should be appointed on her merits.
Is This What Judges Should Do? The New Haven city officials knuckled into public pressure by "powerful African Americans" to throw out the test. What better example is there of the need for impartial justice to protect a politically unrepresented and unpopular figure (Frank Ricci) from the howls of the mob that would deny him the equal protection of law? Unfortunately Sotomayor didn't grasp that. She condoned the mob's bullying and was prepared to give those that caved to their pressure a legal stamp of approval. The Senate must ask: is this what we want in a Supreme Court justice?
Sotomayor Skipping PR Parade. Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a hero to the city's "Nuyorican" population after her nomination to the Supreme Court by President Obama last month, won't be marching — or hobbling on crutches — in the 52nd Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade today. "She's been a regular in the past," said disappointed parade organizer Caesar Pillot.
Sotomayor Memo Argued Death Penalty Is 'Racist'. The Judicial Confirmation Network (JCN) says Judge Sonia Sotomayor failed to disclose to the Senate Judiciary Committee a controversial document arguing that the death penalty is "racist" and a violation of the present "humanist" thinking of society. The 1981 memo, they say, should have been disclosed as required under Question 12(b) of the questionnaire that the Supreme Court nominee turned in Thursday [6/4/2009].
What price our pseudo-empathy? President Obama said that what he's looking for in a big-time judge is "the depth and breadth of one's empathy." ... The President wants someone less hung up on the rule book. He likes to cite the case of Lilly Ledbetter, who sued Goodyear Tire for discrimination but ran up against the pesky old statute of limitations. An "empathetic" judge would presumably say, "Screw the statute of limitations."
A Wise Latina Spender? Sotomayor's annual earnings come to $196,000 a year ($170,000 a year as an appeals judge and $26,000 for part-time teaching). She has served as an appeals judge for 17 years. This service was preceded by lengthy tenure at a corporate law firm of Pavia and Harcourt, where she was a partner, and presumably was well compensated. Yet after a career that has spanned 25 years, Ms Sotomayor only has one thousand dollars in net savings. As reported in the New York Post, Sotomayor's bank account holds $31,985. Her credit cards debts are $15,823, and she has $15,000 in unpaid dental bills. That leaves her with $1,162.
Judicial 'Activism' Isn't the Issue. The growing dispute between conservatives and liberals over the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor obscures a more troubling point of agreement: The government should almost always win. Many conservatives who think of themselves as proponents of limited government would be surprised to discover that conservative judges begin their constitutional analyses in almost every context by placing a thumb firmly on the government side of the scale.
Having Your Racial Cake and Eating it Too. The left has responded to the reproof of Sotomayor with stuttering indignation, accusations of a latent fear of brown people and claims that Sotomayor's reputation was being besmirched unfairly. (The fact that Democrats have routinely besmirched the reputations of brown justices nominated by Republican presidents on far less substantive grounds or outright lies seems to have slipped their minds. But I digress.) In point of fact, Sotomayor is not a racist. She is, however, clearly enamoured with the identity politics of the left.
Whoops! Montel Williams Claims Sotomayor Doesn't Need Senate Approval. Air America radio host Montel Williams displayed a brain cramp last Thursday [5/28/2009] on the Sonia Sotomayor nomination. He suggested the Constitution protects the right of the president to nominate Supreme Court justices and "doesn?t have to get it cleared from Congress, Senate or anybody."
A Quota Queen for the Court. If the U.S. Senate rejects race-based justice, Sonia Sotomayor will never sit on the Supreme Court. Because that is what Sonia is all about. As The New York Times reported Saturday [5/30/2009], the salient cause of her career has been advancing persons of color, over whites, based on race and national origin.
On the other hand...
It's Not Fair Casually to Call People Racist. Judge Sonia Sotomayor deserves careful vetting by the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee. She may or may not deserve their vote. But those Republicans should seize this teachable moment to remember all of the fine candidates — [Charles] Pickering, Miguel Estrada, Robert Bork — and many more who were so shamefully treated by the Democrats who have suddenly discovered the evil of baseless accusations.
Judge Sotomayor and the Diversity Crowd. The diversity crowd doesn't really believe in diversity. In fact, what they're really aiming for is conformity of opinion. They expect that members of racial and ethnic groups will adhere to liberal orthodoxy, and woe to those who don't fall into line. If Judge Sotomayor were a conservative or the nominee of a Republican president, we'd be hearing that she wasn't an "authentic" Latina at all.
Saint Sonia, or Not. President Obama has repeatedly brushed aside worries about Sotomayor's racial ideology, claiming that her 2001 speech in Berkeley, in which she implied that a Latina judge would render better verdicts than a white man, is being quoted out of context. I agree with President Obama. In full context, Sotomayor's statement is far more troubling.
"Out of Context". In Washington, the clearer a statement is, the more certain it is to be followed by a "clarification" when people realize what was said. The clearly racist comments made by Judge Sonia Sotomayor on the Berkeley campus in 2001 have forced the spinmasters to resort to their last-ditch excuse, that it was "taken out of context." If that line is used during Judge Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings, someone should ask her to explain just what those words mean when taken in context.
"Out of Context": Part II. What does it say about a nominee to the Supreme Court that the most that her defenders can say in her defense is that her critics used words that her defenders don't like? What does it say about her qualifications to be on the Supreme Court when her supporters' biggest talking points are that she had to struggle to rise in the world? Bonnie and Clyde had to struggle. Al Capone had to struggle. ... There is no evidence that struggle automatically makes you a better person.
"Out of Context": Part III. While Sonia Sotomayor was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth, let's not make her someone who rose from such depths as those conjured up by the words "housing projects" today. It is bad enough that biographical considerations carry such weight in considerations of nominees for the Supreme Court. But, if biography must be elaborated, let it at least be done "in context."
The Make Believe Sotomayor. While Democrats have exaggerated her background, burnished her career, and misrepresented her philosophy to seek approval from the court of public opinion, Judge Sonia Sotomayor has been equally misleading about herself. As more of her words from the past begin to surface, it has become apparent that who she really is and who she portrays herself to be aren't the same person.
Sotomayor Repeatedly Referenced 'Wise Woman' in Speeches. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor delivered multiple speeches between 1994 and 2003 in which she suggested "a wise Latina woman" or "wise woman" judge might "reach a better conclusion" than a male judge. Those speeches, released Thursday [6/4/2009] as part of Sotomayor's responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee's questionnaire, suggest her widely quoted 2001 speech in which she indicated a "wise Latina" judge might make a better decision was far from a single isolated instance.
Sotomayor Guns For The 2nd Amendment. Those Pennsylvania townsfolk bitterly clinging to their guns may have been premature in celebrating the decision in D.C. v. Heller that the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does indeed guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms. ... Surely a wise Latina with varied life experiences such as Sotomayor can feel empathy for the unarmed and defenseless potential victims vulnerable to armed predators in this country.
Why Racialism? Why is Sonia Sotomayor allowed to get away with being described, or describing herself as "non-white"? I thought, as every MSM or government report on any race statistics puts it: "Hispanics can be of any race." She looks strikingly like my wife's in-laws — Italian. Are Italians not "white"?
Sotomayor's Mistake. [Scroll down] Sotomayor also once complained that, "We (Latinos) have only 10 out of 147 active circuit court judges and 30 out of 587 active district court judges. Those numbers are grossly below our proportion of the population." Aside from Sotomayor's notion that federal jobs should be parceled out on the basis of race, what exactly does she mean in an America that is intermarrying, integrating, and assimilating as never before? And why were the same people who now hold up Sotomayor's background as a qualification for the Supreme Court so quick, when George W. Bush was president, to rally to deny Miguel Estrada a court-of-appeals judgeship?
Sotomayor less bipartisan than thought. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor said in a 1998 speech that she owed her first federal judicial nomination almost entirely to New York Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, undercutting the spirit of President Obama's claim that it was Republican President George H.W. Bush who was responsible for her first appointment to the federal bench. Mr. Obama and fellow Democrats have repeatedly pointed to her initial nomination to a federal district court by Mr. Bush in 1991, and her later elevation to an appeals court by President Clinton seven years later, as evidence she is a nonpartisan jurist.
More questions for Robert Gibbs. Gibbs' and the president's assurances that Judge Sotomayor "misspoke" when she asserted the innate inferiority of one race and one gender on the bench haven't put the controversy over her nomination to rest. The rushed, perfunctory schedule of hearings Democrats had planned for the nomination is looking like it will be less and less rushed and less and less perfunctory. Even Democrats like Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., are calling Sotomayor's remark "troubling."
'A Wise Latina Woman'. The hapless White House press secretary Robert Gibbs at first refused to address Sotomayor's words. By the end of the week though he declared, "I think she'd say that her word choice in 2001 was poor." Sotomayor herself, according to Senator Dianne Feinstein, said that "if you read on and read the rest of my speech you wouldn't be concerned with it but it was a poor choice of words." The following week the excuse of inadvertence unraveled. Sotomayor had used similar or identical words in speeches between 1994 and 2003, the most recent at Seton Hall, in which the same "wise Latina" formulation was used.
Sotomayor and the Ugliness of Identity Politics. Defenders of Sonia Sotomayor's nomination have taken to condemning the rhetoric of Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich under the pretense that the conservative icons are responsible for denigrating the discussion and making it all about race. This could hardly be further from the truth. It is the proponents and adherents of identity politics, the most prominent of which who now resides in the White House, that have burdened us with perpetual discussion about irrelevancies like race, and it is Sonia Sotomayor herself who has made it her defining characteristic. This is a far cry from the post-racial promise of the Barack Obama campaign.
Remember Gonzales and Estrada. [Miguel] Estrada has a compelling life story, perhaps even more compelling than Sotomayor's. He was born in Honduras and immigrated to America with a limited understanding of English. He still succeeded as a law student, U.S. attorney and member of the Justice Department prior to his nomination for the D.C. court in 2001. His bid ended, however, after a two-year filibuster by Senate Democrats. Due to the D.C. court's influence, Estrada could have become the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court when vacancies cropped up during Bush's second term. But Democrats would have no part of it.
Sotomayor's Judicial Record Could Be Battlefield. Already, a few Republicans have cast doubt on Sotomayor's objectivity. And her history of decisions and opinions surely will raise more questions. Sotomayor, who would be the court's first Hispanic member and third woman — and who has touted her race and gender as an asset — frequently has argued in favor of minority plaintiffs and points of view.
Obama Voted to Filibuster a Supreme Court Nominee, but Now Hopes for Clean Process. President Obama's expressed hope today in his weekly address "that we can avoid the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this (Supreme Court nomination) process, and Congress, in the past" runs against another historical first for the 44th president: his unique role in history as the first US President to have ever voted to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee.
Flashback: Nets Were Quick to Tag Alito and Roberts as 'Ultra' and 'Hardline' 'Conservatives'. Network anchors and reporters didn't hesitate to apply strong ideological labels (not just quoting others) to President Bush's two Supreme Court nominees, John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Will they be as willing to tag President Obama's nominee, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, as "staunch," and "hardline" and "ultra" liberal, or at least as "very liberal"?
Sonia Sotomayor blinded by ideology. [Scroll down] M. Edward Whelan III, president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, wrote that "when President Bush nominated Sotomayor to the district court in 1991, the New York senators, Moynihan and [Al] D'Amato, had forced on the White House a deal that enabled the senator not of the president's party to name one of every four district court nominees in New York. Sotomayor was Moynihan's pick. I am reliably informed that Bush 41's White House nonetheless resisted nominating her because she was so liberal and did so in the end only as part of a package to move along other nominees whom Moynihan was holding up."
Good Justices Are Made in the Image of Obama. In the process of reading all this stuff about Obama's criteria for a Supreme Court Justice (blah, blah, empathy, blah blah blah), it occurred to me that maybe what he really wants to do is appoint himself, or at least the best approximation of himself he can find that politics will allow. Think about it. He places this huge emphasis on a personal narrative that produces empathy for select disadvantaged groups — minorities, single moms etc. He wants someone who is smart enough, but whose real priorities can be boiled down to trite lefty tropes about "social justice."
Obama's Nominee Spouts Biased Views on Race and Gender. There's that ubiquitous word again — "historic." It seems to follow Barack Obama wherever he goes... After telling the world that he would choose someone with "empathy," Obama has announced that Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a Hispanic woman, is his choice to replace Justice Souter on the Supreme Court. Women and Hispanics the nation over, rejoice. There may soon be someone on the bench who will put you first. Literally. Sorry, white guys. Ms. Sotomayor is, quite simply, not your gal. For one thing, she doesn't think you're anatomically or ethnically qualified to do her job as well as she is.
White Men Can't Judge.
Discrimination Case Could Pose Problems for Sotomayor. A reverse discrimination lawsuit filed by a group of Connecticut firefighters is shaping up to be the most contentious case in which Sonia Sotomayor participated, one sure to provoke sharp questioning when the Senate begins consideration of her nomination to the Supreme Court. In 2008, Sotomayor was one of three judges on a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit who upheld a trial court's ruling rejecting the reverse discrimination claims by 19 white firefighters, one of whom was also Hispanic.
Obama, Sotomayor, Ricci and White Male Privilege. It is now asked whether Sonia Sotomayor has empathy for Frank Ricci. It's a question larger than the first Latina nominated to the Supreme Court, larger than the first black president who selected her and larger than the case before the high court of a firefighter who did not get a promotion because he was white and male.
More like a pol than a judge. Sotomayor's 2001 speech at the University of California-Berkeley Law School is a cross-examiner's dream. Too bad in these politically correct times no senator is likely to use it as a roadmap to learn if the judge is better suited for Congress than for the Supreme Court.
Obama, Sotomayor, Ricci and White Male Privilege. It is now asked whether Sonia Sotomayor has empathy for Frank Ricci. It's a question larger than the first Latina nominated to the Supreme Court, larger than the first black president who selected her and larger than the case before the high court of a firefighter who did not get a promotion because he was white and male.
I Feel Your Pain. Not Theirs. Yours. After President Barack Obama announced his empathetic Supreme Court nominee this week, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, we found out that some people are more deserving of empathy than others. For example, Judge Sotomayor apparently "empathized" more with New Haven, Conn., government officials than with white and Hispanic firefighters who were denied promotions by the city on the basis of their race. Let's hope she's as empathetic to New Haven residents who die in fires fought by inferior firefighters as a result of her decision.
The case against Sotomayor's confirmation: President Obama has, unfortunately, given us exactly what he promised, a nominee who allows feelings and personal agendas to color her judicial temperament. Her most glaring surrender to those disqualifying instincts came in the case of Ricci v. DeStefano, as white and, ironically, Hispanic firefighters sued the city of New Haven, Conn., for denying them promotions they had earned because no black firefighters had passed the same advancement exam. Her complicity in affirming this obscene discrimination is but one page of a track record that will become more familiar as the days pass.
Sotomayor Ruled That States Do Not Have to Obey the Second Amendment. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor ruled in January 2009 that states do not have to obey the Second Amendment's commandment that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The racist jurisprudence of Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayer spent 11 years on the federal appeals court in Manhattan, where she morphed from the "moderate" she supposedly was when President George H.W. Bush first appointed her to the bench. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, who has spent decades on the Senate Judiciary Committee reviewing the qualifications of federal judicial nominees from presidents of both parties, now describes Sotomayor as "extremely liberal." Many of her appellate rulings have been overturned by the Supreme Court, and her misguided New Haven decision may soon meet the same fate.
Gingrich on Twitter: Sotomayor Racist, Should Withdraw. Just a day after President Obama announced he was nominating appellate court judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the battle over her confirmation has begun with former House speaker Newt Gingrich branding her a racist and saying she should withdraw. Gingrich today [5/27/2009] joined the chorus of conservatives such as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, who called Sotomayor a "reverse racist."
Sotomayor overturned 60% of the time by Supremes. If senators vote on Sonia Sotomayor's track record, they might want to look at the 60% reversal rate when her decisions reach the Supreme Court. ... But the American people should be shown just what our president thinks of the Supreme Court to nominate such a candidate to sit in judgment on our most vital cases involving our principles and rights.
Sotomayor reversed 60% by high court. With Judge Sonia Sotomayor already facing questions over her 60 percent reversal rate, the Supreme Court could dump another problem into her lap next month if, as many legal analysts predict, the court overturns one of her rulings upholding a race-based employment decision.
Sonia Sotomayor: Environmental extremist? Obama Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor represents a potential threat to U.S. consumers and to the economy in terms of energy and the environment. ... Fortunately, Judge Sotomayor's decision was recently overturned by the Supreme Court, fittingly on April 1, 2009 (Entergy v. Riverkeeper, No. 07-588). Had the EPA been required to abide by Judge Sotomayor's decision, American consumers would have been forced to pay billions of dollars more in energy costs every year as power plants producing more than one-half of the nation's electricity would have had to undertake expensive retrofits.
Judge Sotomayor and Five Million Criminal Votes for Obama. There are 5.3 million votes for Obama out there, the only problem is that they happen to belong to murderers, rapists, armed robbers and other convicts and ex-convicts. That golden box of 5+ million votes is being unlocked by Democrats in one of two ways. The first relies on changing state laws that prevent felon voting at the state level. Their greatest success has arguably been Florida, a crucial swing state with over a million ex-felons.
10 Questions For a Supreme Court Nominee. [#6] Do you believe that beyond the plain text of the Constitution, that there are "emanations" and "penumbras" which contain unwritten and previously unknown provisions that remove issues from democratic determination, and which therefore may be used to strike down popularly enacted state or federal laws?
Sotomayor: "Empathy" in Action. You might think that this was some kind of popularity contest, instead of a weighty decision about someone whose impact on the fundamental law of the nation will extend for decades after Barack Obama has come and gone. ... If you were going to have open heart surgery, would you want to be operated on by a surgeon who was chosen because he had to struggle to get where he is or by the best surgeon you could find — even if he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had every advantage that money and social position could offer?
What Could Go Wrong? Don't count Sonia Sotomayor as one of the justices of the Supreme Court quite yet. Yes, the odds of her winning confirmation as the first Hispanic woman on the court are almost prohibitive, especially since Democrats have an overwhelming majority in the Senate. But the odds are 90 percent, maybe 95 percent — but not 100 percent. So it's not over yet. ... Things turn up. No matter how extensively an administration investigates a nominee, it can't look into everything.
A judge too far. With his nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court, President Obama has abandoned all pretense of being a post-partisan president. While he may like to think of himself as a thoughtful moderate soaring above the issues that divide America, his actions reveal what hides under that hopeful lining. Presidents usually nominate judges that espouse their philosophy. So what does this nomination tell us about Mr. Obama's true colors?
Why did George H.W. Bush pick Sotomayor for the courts? Senators, even those in the opposing party from the White House, wield great power over who is nominated to the district court seats in their states. And in 1991, when Sotomayor was nominated, the Senate was controlled by Democrats, and the two senators from New York were Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Republican Alphonse D'Amato.
Not all "Compelling Personal Stories" are Equal. Since when did securing a Supreme Court seat become a high hurdles contest? The White House and Democrats have turned Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination into a personal Olympic event. Pay no attention to her jurisprudence. She grew up in a Bronx public housing project. She was diagnosed with childhood diabetes at 8. Her father died a year later. And, oh, by the way, did you hear that she was poor? It's a "compelling personal story," as we heard 20,956 times on Tuesday.
Cardozo was first, but was he Hispanic?. Sonia Sotomayor's Puerto Rican heritage would make her the first Hispanic to serve on the nation's highest court — unless you count Benjamin Cardozo, who was on the court from 1932 to 1938. As news of Sotomayor's nomination spread, so did the question of whether she truly would be the first Hispanic on the court.
The 'Empathy' Nominee. In making Sonia Sotomayor his first nominee for the Supreme Court yesterday, President Obama appears to have found the ideal match for his view that personal experience and cultural identity are the better part of judicial wisdom. This isn't a jurisprudence that the Founders would recognize, but it is the creative view that has dominated the law schools since the 1970s and from which both the President and Judge Sotomayor emerged.
Questions for Sotomayor: Let's assume Ms. Sotomayor will refuse to answer questions about any of the hot-button issues that the confirmation battle will focus on: constitutional questions about abortion, gay marriage, the rights of terrorist detainees, and the like. No recent nominee to the court has directly answered questions about particular issues that are likely to come before the court. ... But the nominee should answer questions about her judicial philosophy.
Sotomayor: Obama's Supreme Court Pick and the Cost of Environmental Protection. Much of the fireworks surrounding Ms. Sotomayor's work on the Second Court of Appeals centers on the controversial affirmative-action ruling in Connecticut. But she also wrote the opinion in one big environmental case — one the Supreme Court just overturned.
Sotomayor pick not based on merit. In picking Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama has confirmed that identity politics matter to him more than merit. While Judge Sotomayor exemplifies the American Dream, she would not have even been on the short list if she were not Hispanic.
'Empathy' Is Code for Judicial Activism. Mr. Obama said he wanted to replace Justice David Souter with someone who had "empathy" and who'd temper the court's decisions with a concern for the downtrodden, the powerless and the voiceless. "Empathy" is the latest code word for liberal activism, for treating the Constitution as malleable clay to be kneaded and molded in whatever form justices want. It represents an expansive view of the judiciary in which courts create policy that couldn't pass the legislative branch or, if it did, would generate voter backlash.
A Tale of Two Kids from the Projects. "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experience, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Imagine if a white male nominee made this racist statement in reverse. He would be toast! Despite Sotomayor's heartwarming story, Republicans must have the courage to say, "NO!" to this radical, extreme left, agenda driven nominee.
CBS Decides Sotomayor No Liberal: 'Can't Be Easily Defined by Political Labels'. "Pundits usually label judges as either liberal or conservative, but that won't be easy with Judge Sotomayor," Katie Couric propounded in setting up a piece from Wyatt Andrews, who concluded: "President Obama, then, has found a judge with 17 years experience but no clear ideology on discrimination, gay rights, or abortion and who can't be easily defined by political labels." At least not by the CBS newscast, which back in 2005 asserted Roberts would move "the court further to the right" and fretted over the Alito pick "tilting the Supreme Court in a solidly conservative direction for years to come."
Oppose Sotomayor at Your Own Risk? A few of our newly minted spokesmen for all those seemingly ubiquitous new Republican moderates out there are starting to say that if we oppose Sotomayor, we do so at our own risk. By this they mean that if we are seen to oppose a strong Hispanic woman we will be hurting our chances further with Hispanic voters. To this one can only say poppycock. Sotomayor should be opposed and vigorously but not because of anything other than her rather un-judicial judicial philosophy.
Tancredo: La Raza is "Latino KKK". Anti-illegal immigration crusader and former Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo was on CNN this afternoon [5/28/2009] whacking Sonia Sotomayor for her association with the National Council of La Raza, which was listed in a 2000 American Bar Association bio of the judge.
Sonia Sotomayor 'La Raza member'. As President Obama's Supreme Court nominee comes under heavy fire for allegedly being a "racist," Judge Sonia Sotomayor is listed as a member of the National Council of La Raza, a group that's promoted driver's licenses for illegal aliens, amnesty programs, and no immigration law enforcement by local and state police. According the American Bar Association, Sotomayor is a member of the NCLR, which bills itself as the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S.
Sotomayor: Of Fish And Men. Sonia Sotomayor fits the administration's requirement for bringing empathy to the law. The problem is that it isn't always for human beings and law-abiding citizens. Fish gotta swim and criminals gotta vote.
Lawyers tag nominee as 'terror on the bench'. Lawyers who have argued cases before Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor call her "nasty," "angry" and a "terror on the bench," according to the current Almanac of the Federal Judiciary — a kind of Zagat's guide to federal judges. ... "She really lacks judicial temperament. She behaves in an out-of-control manner. She makes inappropriate outbursts," one lawyer told the almanac. Another said she "abuses lawyers."
The franchise for felons. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor wants to give jailbirds the right to vote. It's her opinion that the federal Voting Rights Act can be used to force states to allow voting by currently imprisoned felons. Ms. Sotomayor's dissenting opinion in a 2006 felon-voting case should make senators extremely wary of confirming her for the high court.
Minority Status Not a Qualification for the Supreme Court. Being a Hispanic woman does not qualify Judge Sotomayor to be a Supreme Court Justice. Yes, her story is inspiring to all Americans, especially Hispanics, not to mention Puerto Ricans, but we have to be very careful that we not take it too far. We cannot support someone for a position just because she is "one of us." A Hispanic woman judicial activist is just as bad as any other judicial activist. A conservative judicial activist is just as bad as a liberal judicial activist. The requirements for being a judge are still the same whatever your race, gender, or economic status.
Obama's End Run on the Second Amendment. The recent landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller put an end to decades of arguments regarding the meaning of the Second Amendment. ... Just six months after Heller, however, Sotomayor issued an opinion in Maloney v. Cuomo that the protections of the Second Amendment do not apply to the states, and that if your city or state wants to ban all guns, then they have the right to disarm you. Such an opinion seems to fly directly in the face of Heller, exposing Sotomayor as an anti-gun radical who will affirm full-on gun prohibitions and believes that you have no right to own a firearm, even for the most basic right of defending your family in your own home.
Why you should oppose Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court. You'll be hearing about Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor ad nauseam in the coming weeks. Did I say "Sonia Sotomayor"? I meant, of course, "Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court." It will be a constantly recurring epithet...
Is she a Supreme Court nominee or Queen for a Day?
Obama SCOTUS Choice a Blow to Racial Equality. The president is clear: it's about fishing out the neediest, the most downtrodden, and the least powerful. The Supreme Court is composed, in his view, of nine community organizers who are out to right wrongs, regardless of their assigned task. (That task, for those who have forgotten, is to interpret the statutes and constitutional provisions which are before the Supreme Court and to render justice equally and impartially to all who come before it.)
Judge Sotomayor, Empathize This! Judge Sotomayor's record and her astonishing high reversal rate speak for itself. Her judicial philosophy, such as it is, could not be less opaque. She is an activist, intent on setting policy from the bench in a lawless manner better-suited to a social democracy rather than a democratic republic. Her empathy is selective and selectivity has no place on any bench, let alone the highest.
Identity Politics and the Sotomayor Nomination: In her speech, Sotomayor stated that she not only accepts that judges would vote differently based on gender and national origins, but that she hopes "a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life," and that judicial impartiality is an aspiration that ignores these realities. That notion flies in the face of the overriding goal of an impartial legal system that is blind to such differences, with judges who are able to treat everyone as equal under the law.
Sotomayor, Obama and the trouble with role models. It's a beautiful image: By the thousands, Latino boys and especially girls inspired by Judge Sonia Sotomayor's ascension to the nation's highest court start envisioning a better future — and cracking the books to realize their dreams. There's just one problem with this vision. It's a romantic fallacy. What guides success in America is not an ample supply of role models, much less a few strategically placed role models who bear some surface similarity to the aspirants, but good parenting and good schooling. A productive culture. High expectations and a strong work ethic. None of which are changed much, if at all, by the sudden presence of a Sotomayor on the court (or an Obama in the White House).
Sotomayor's remark termed 'poor' word choice. The White House said Friday [5/29/2009] that Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor now regrets saying in 2001 that a Hispanic woman would tend to arrive at a "better conclusion" in making legal decisions than a white male. "Her word choice in 2001 was poor," spokesman Robert Gibbs said, seeking to settle what has become an early stumbling point for President Obama's nominee as she prepares for her Senate confirmation battle.
Make Case For Blind Justice, Then Confirm. Since the 2008 election, people have been asking what conservatism stands for. Well, if nothing else, it stands unequivocally against justice as empathy — and unequivocally for the principle of blind justice. Empathy is a vital virtue to be exercised in private life — through charity, respect and lovingkindness — and in the legislative life of a society where the consequences of any law matter greatly, which is why income taxes are progressive and safety nets built for the poor and disadvantaged. But all that stops at the courthouse door. Figuratively and literally, justice wears a blindfold. It cannot be a respecter of persons. Everyone must stand equally before the law, black or white, rich or poor, advantaged or not.
Media Ignores Obama's SCOTUS Nominee's Membership In Radical La Raza Organization. Just looking at Sotomayor's record, we can already see how she is prone to rule in race cases. We also shouldn't ignore what we ended up with the last time a nominee mentioned race and gender influencing decisions. However, the most disturbing reflection of Sotomayor's character is the company she keeps. According the American Bar Association, Sotomayor is a member of the NCLR, otherwise known as "La Raza".
No Patty-Cake, Please. Already, Judge Sotomayor's unfitness for the high court is abundantly manifest. No non-ethnic white nominee, under any circumstances, could possibly be confirmed if she had uttered, in a formal speech, anything close to the converse of Sotomayor's statement that Latina judges by their very background and nature, including perhaps "physiological" differences, would be more likely to reach "correct" decisions than would a white male. Especially since it was not a mere throwaway line, but instead amply defended throughout her speech, the statement is so racist in nature that it is utterly disqualifying.
Sotomayor and White Wise Guys. Many political pundits apparently share Democrats' low opinion of Hispanic voters. All we've heard thus far is, "Republicans don't dare go after Sotomayor," or they'll lose the Hispanic voting bloc. Democrats are counting on Hispanics forgetting that it was Democrats who blocked Honduran immigrant Miguel Estrada's nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals solely because they couldn't abide the prospect that President Bush might elevate the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court. Hispanics should be insulted by the race-baiting. They know the difference between addressing an issue and attacking a person. That's what Democrats do when a woman or a minority won't toe the Party line as a judge.
White House Damage Control on Sotomayor. "The facts that judges choose to see"? That's an unorthodox description, to say the least, of how a judge goes about his work.
Sotomayor's minority cred. Sotomayor can keep playing the poor, underprivileged Boricua, but let's be real, she's spent her childhood in private school environments, early adulthood amongst the Ivy League elite, and most of her adulthood as a corporate attorney and judge living in Greenwich Village, where the average household income tops that of the entire NY metro area and 98% of the residents are White. I guess that's what she means by her rich experience.
Would Judge Sotomayor Qualifiy as a Juror? [Scroll down slowly] Let's say she forthrightly explained to the court during the voir dire (the jury-selection phase of a case) that she believed a wise Latina makes better judgments than a white male; that she doubts it is actually possible to "transcend [one's] personal sympathies and prejudices and aspire to achieve a greater degree of fairness and integrity based on the reason of law"; and that there are "basic differences" in the way people "of color" exercise "logic and reasoning." If, upon hearing that, would it not be reasonable for a lawyer for one (or both) of the parties to ask the court to excuse her for cause? Would it not be incumbent on the court to grant that request?
Republicans Begin to Find Voice on Racial Aspects of Sotomayor Nomination. Republican senators are starting to figure out how they will navigate the racial aspects of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, showing Sunday that they won't be tongue-tied when it comes to the politically tricky subject. Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic on the high court if confirmed, and just the third woman, and Republicans don't want to appear insensitive to this historic significance during summer hearings.
When Words Don't Mean Anything. With the advent of Obamaworld, the centrist veneer sometimes rubs off the race/class/gender/religion talk and we see the fundamentalism in its essence — in the impromptu moments of the campaign it was Michelle's "mean country" and first-time pride in the U.S., Obama's "typical white person," Pennsylvania clingers, and original contorted defense of Reverend Wright, then there was Eric Holder's "cowards" outburst, and now Sotomayor's Latina tribalism.
The Affirmative-Action Aristocracy? The Sotomayor nomination — since the media focused on her ethnic profile rather than her solid credentials — has had the unintended effect of reminding the nation how strange the politics of racial identity have become, especially in a society where social status and material well-being are not necessarily predicated on being "white" (cf. per capita incomes of many Asian minorities), and the notion itself of "race" is now problematic with so many Americans of 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 racial heritage.
No more apologies from Sotomayor. With Barack Obama, many Americans had hoped to get a post-racial president. With Mr. Obama's pick of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace David H. Souter on the Supreme Court, it looks less and less like they got one. President Obama — a man we still hardly know — clearly subscribes to the notion that we should judge each other not just on the content of our character, but also by the color of our skin. We've had warning signs before. Remember the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.?
Green Justice: Sotomayor's Enviro-activism. Greens have a lot to be happy about now that Sonia Sotomayor is poised to be come the next Supreme Court justice — she's shown she's willing to impose their agenda from the bench. In 2006, then-Second Circuit Judge Sotomayor heard arguments in Riverkeeper v. EPA, a suit brought by eco-activist groups led by Robert Kennedy Jr.'s Hudson River pit-bull environmental organization, Riverkeeper.
Sotomayor's Aversion to Impartiality. Maybe when she gets to her confirmation hearing, Sotomayor will disavow the remark. But her supporters are taking another tack. They say this criticism is unfair, because critics have taken the quotation out of context and grossly distorted her meaning. ... Her allies have a point. Anyone who reads the whole speech will indeed find that her comment wasn't as bad as it sounds. It was worse.
Right before he admits he doesn't know the context...
Howard Dean Says Sotomayor's Race Comment Taken Out of Context. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told CNSNews.com yesterday [6/1/2009] that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's comment that "a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life" has been taken out of context by critics. Then he immediately conceded that he himself had not actually read the full context of the speech in which Sotomayor made the comment.
Why I would oppose Sonia Sotomayor. [Scroll down] [Joe] Biden himself voted for Justices Thomas, John Roberts and Samuel Alito when they came before the Senate as circuit court nominees, but he turned around and voted against their Supreme Court nominations. Biden's not the only one to flip-flop. Seventeen Democrats who voted for Alito's confirmation to the circuit court did not vote for his nomination to the Supreme Court, and 21 Democrats did the same to Roberts. And then there's Thomas, who had an astounding 43 Democrats oppose his Supreme Court nomination just a year after supporting his appeals court nomination.
Judge Sotomayor, in Her Own Words. Having decided to take Mr. Gibbs up on his challenge [to "look at the context of the longer speech that she (made)"], I have read Judge Sotomayor's 2001 lecture, delivered at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. (It was later published in the Spring 2002 issue of the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal.) What is clear is that Ms. Sotomayor's locution wasn't simply a stray line or lazy formulation, as President Obama would have us believe. It was, instead, a line that perfectly captured a particular worldview. It acted as a capstone to an argument. There are several important passages to analyze in Judge Sotomayor's lecture (which I will quote at length, to ensure the context is fair).
Answering Peggy Noonan: Why Sotomayor Should Withdraw. The fact Judge Sotomayor is a woman and a Latina is irrelevant. If we are truly supposed to have colorblindness as our goal, as then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy once approvingly cited Justice John Marshall Harlan, then it should not matter if all nine justices are Hispanic women, black men, Catholics or members of the Chevy Chase Country Club. (Although, typically, when Democrats had the chance to put Bush nominee Miguel Estrada on the bench, their since-leaked memos show they decided to keep him off the D.C. Appeals Court specifically because he was — in their words — "Latino" and "dangerous." No racism there.) The question in these situations should always be: "What's in the nominee's head?" Will she or he see defendants standing in front of them as Americans seeking justice through the colorblind interpretation of the Constitution? Or will they see them, as Sotomayor clearly has already done with her curt dismissal of the New Haven firefighters case, through the eyes of racial beliefs?
Reid Hasn't Read One of Sotomayor's Opinions, Media Mostly Mum. One would think the Majority Leader admitting that he's supporting the nomination of a Supreme Court justice without reading any of her opinions would be quite newsworthy. Well, think again, for according to Google News and LexisNexis searches, of major media outlets, only the Washington Post's Dana Milbank thought Reid's comments were at all interesting, although they came in the last paragraph of his article published Wednesday [6/3/2009]. ... I guess when it comes to Democrat nominees for the Court, only comments from the Left that support his or her confirmation are newsworthy.
Near and Dear. Even before yesterday excusing the 32 words from Sotomayor's 2001 Berkely speech as some type of slip was not holding up well. It was a "slip" or a "misstatement" or a "poor choice of words." ... Then word came on Wednesday [6/3/2009] that the speach was given in similar form some seven years earlier.
Sotomayor's Flawed Reasoning. The consequence of Sotomayor and Obama's bigoted mindset is that they are, by definition, right, and those who disagree with them are wrong. This is classic ipse dixit reasoning, which is to say, reasoning based solely on the assumed superiority of one's standing. Again, this is the reasoning of a supremacist. It is intolerant, bigoted and surprisingly stupid. ... By Sotomayor and Obama's reasoning, the best doctors for treating cancer are doctors who have suffered cancer. The best counselors for treating alcoholism are reformed alcoholics or possibly practicing alcoholics.
Obama Knew What He Was Getting With Sotomayor. It amazes me that for all the attention Judge Sonia Sotomayor has attracted for a racially charged statement in a 2001 speech, few are tying her attitude to President Barack Obama's. Just as he knew precisely what his 20-year pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was about and approved, he knew, prior to nominating her, what Sonia Sotomayor is about and approved. In both cases, he just didn't want us to know.
Some compelling stories are 'better' than others. While the Democrats are running around calling anybody 'racist' who oppose Judge Sonia Sotomayor, let us remember these names — Clarence Thomas and Miguel Estrada. Both of them had compelling life stories that make Sotomayor look like a rich young brat raised in the English manor, with servants at her beck and call. Both of them worked extremely hard to achieve heights seemingly unattainable from their humble beginnings. Both are brilliant. Both are minorities. Yet both are to this day treated to the most vile and inhuman treatment that the Left can levy, called horrible things in public and in print. Why?
On the other hand...
Judge Sotomayor's not-so-liberal moments. If confirmed, Judge Sotomayor will probably join the Supreme Court's liberal wing most of the time, but her jurisprudence should not be carelessly stereotyped. Every senator should examine her entire record before deciding whether she is fit to serve.
The material below was posted before Judge Sonia Sotomayor was nominated. There was a lot of speculation about the type of judge President Obama was looking for, and about the important issues that will come up over the lifetime of that judge, whoever it may be.
FOX News Poll: Pick Supreme Court Justice Based On Experience. Americans think judicial experience should be the most important factor in selecting the next Supreme Court justice, far outdistancing other qualities such as the nominee's race, gender, sexual preference, and issue positions.
Poll: Americans Don't Want Pro-Abortion Justices. As speculation builds around President Barack Obama's nomination to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a new survey revealed Thursday a majority of Americans would oppose nominees who hold staunch pro-abortion viewpoints, including support for partial-birth abortions and taxpayer-funded abortions.
Hatch: Obama Using 'Code' for Activist Judge. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the longest serving Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on "This Week" Sunday that President Barack Obama used "code" for an activist judge this week when describing his ideal nominee to replace retiring Justice David Souter. "It's a matter of great concern, if he's saying that he wants to pick people who will take sides. He's also said that a judge has to be a person of empathy — what does that mean? Usually that's a code word for an activist judge," Hatch told [George Stephanopoulos] on "This Week."
The Pity of Obama's Judicial Doctrine: If Obama's campaign promises last year are to be taken seriously, here is what the current president intends to use as a litmus test for filling vacancies on the court: "We need [judges] who've got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."
'Empathy' versus law. People who are speculating about whether the next nominee will be a woman, a Hispanic or whatever, are missing the point. That we are discussing the next Supreme Court justice in terms of group "representation" is a sign of how far we have already strayed from the purpose of law and the weighty responsibility of appointing someone to sit for life on the highest court in the land.
"Empathy" Versus Law: Part II. The great Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes is not the kind of justice who would have been appointed under President Barack Obama's criterion of "empathy" for certain groups. ... Justice Holmes saw his job to be "to see that the game is played according to the rules whether I like them or not."
"Empathy" Versus Law: Part III. There is a reason why the statue of Justice wears a blindfold. There are things that courts are not supposed to see or recognize when making their decisions — the race you belong to, whether you are rich or poor, and other personal things that could bias decisions by judges and juries. It is an ideal that a society strives for, even if particular judges or juries fall short of that ideal. Now, however, President Barack Obama has repudiated that ideal itself by saying that he wants to appoint judges with "empathy" for particular groups. This was not an isolated slip of the tongue. Barack Obama said the same thing during last year's election campaign.
"Empathy" Versus Law: Part IV. While President Barack Obama has, in one sense, tipped his hand by saying that he wants judges with "empathy" for certain groups, he has in a more fundamental sense concealed the real goal — getting judges who will ratify an ever-expanding scope of the power of the federal government and an ever-declining restraint by the Constitution of the United States. This is consistent with everything else that Obama has done in office and is consistent with his decades-long track record of alliances with people who reject the fundamentals of American society.
Identity Politics And Sotomayor: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion [as a judge] than a white male who hasn't lived that life." — Judge Sonia Sotomayor, in her Judge Mario G. Olmos Law and Cultural Diversity Lecture at the University of California (Berkeley) School of Law in 2001.
Opening of a sorry chapter. Supreme Court Justice David Souter has decided to hang up his robe and go back to his native New Hampshire, handing President Obama his first Supreme Court nomination. The president's remarks yesterday confirmed what Americans who care about the court and the Constitution have been dreading since the campaign. Mr. Obama will make Supreme Court history, all right. He will become the first president in American history to make lawlessness an explicit standard for Supreme Court justices.
Frontrunner for Supreme Court Believes Constitution Grows 'With the Times'. Judge Diane Wood, reported to be on President Obama's short list of possible nominees to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court, believes a judge's interpretation of what the Constitution means must "grow with the times."
Obama's Ideal Justice. Many hope, and many others fear, that President Obama will choose a crusading liberal activist to energize the Supreme Court's progressive wing. Such an appointee might push to expand racial preferences, abortion rights, and especially welfare rights for poor people; to strike down the law barring openly gay people from the military; to recognize gay marriage (which Obama has opposed); to end the death penalty and curtail gun rights ... and much more.
Borking machine gets early tuneup. The president hasn't nominated anyone to the Supreme Court yet but Democrats on the fringe are tuning up the Borking machine. The target is not the nominee, but the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. ... The racist slurs against [Jeff] Sessions aren't particularly vicious but they predict the tone and temperature of the hearings on whoever Barack Obama sends to the Supreme Court to replace David Souter.
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