Sotomayor Was Tougher Than Colleagues On White Collar Crime

WASHINGTON — High court nominee Sonia Sotomayor typically handed out tougher prison sentences than her colleagues in the federal courthouse in Manhattan, especially to white-collar criminals, a new study says.

Nearly half the people Sotomayor sentenced for financial fraud and other white-collar crimes received at least 6 months in prison, according to an analysis released Thursday by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

By contrast, roughly one out of three white-collar convicts received similarly lengthy prison terms from the other trial judges in the Southern District of New York, the study found.

Sotomayor served as a trial judge from 1992 to 1998, when she joined the federal appeals court in New York.

TRAC looked at 7,750 criminal cases handled by 52 judges during that period. Sotomayor presided over 261 of those prosecutions. TRAC obtained the data from the Justice Department under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

For drug cases and a wide range of other matters grouped together by TRAC, Sotomayor was slightly more likely to hand out any prison time as well as sentences of at least six months.

The 55-year-old New Yorker, nominated by President Barack Obama to replace Justice David Souter, spent five years as a prosecutor in state court in New York.

Her confirmation hearings begin Monday.

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On the Net:

TRAC study: http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/judge/213/

Comments

[Subterfuge]

How about, "White judges softer on white-collar crime than non-white judges."

[EmeraldWorld]

Exactly!

[BabblingBrooks]

Another dog-bites-man story! Sotomayor tough on businessmen and corporations? The headline might as well be "Sotomayor leans Marxist."

[barackobama4prez]

I would be nervous too...because there will be more rulings like those of Bernie Madoff if she gets on the court.

[edwcorey]

Anyone who sentences anything "white" to prison--collar, skin--is a Marxist to babblers like you.

[Grunty1]

Yes, we already knew that you support the Madoffs and Enrons of the world.

[jsgaetano]

Now we know the REAL reason Goopers hate her so much.

GOP- always soft on terrorism and white collar crime.

[RedPower09]

How is the GOP soft on terrorism?

[jsgaetano]

There was this one time they were very loose on letting people come into the country... and a few of those people decided to fly planes into buildings.

Then, they defend letting terrorists buy as many weapons as they want from gun shows.

Also, they cheer whenever terrorists attack women's health clinics. There was recently a doctor killed by a terrorist, and conservatives came out in droves to cheer.

Then there was this one DHS report which detailed terrorist groups and how they recruit, and conservatives all over became very angry about it.

You see, conservatives actually love terrorism.

[ozwald888]

This revelation has more to do with the reich-wing's hatred of Ms Sotomayor than any issue they may have with our new president.

To a repug, there is nothing as sacred as their white-collar special interests.

If there is a chance this small, but well monied group may not have only the best of friends (such as alito and roberts), on the court, the repugs will stop at nothing to destroy their foe.

What we are watching with the repug's campaign against Ms Sotomayor, is nothing if not predictable.

[RedPower09]

And we could say there is nothing as sacred to liberals than their quota-system or environmental special interests.

[jsgaetano]

LOL... "environmental special interests". Is that what you call those people who's houses are buried beneath coal ash?

[Jeff Cunningham]

Typical Republican rationale:

"This would be good for the American people? Then we won't stand for it! Socialism! Horrible, unseemly! Ungodly! It's not in the Bible, you betcha! I quit, because I'm a fighter!"

[RedPower09]

Typical Far-left ignorance and partisanship:

see previous comment.

[Jeff Cunningham]

You can't refute a single point I made, so you stoop to merely calling me ignorant. Nice try, sparky. Only the ignorant blindly follow every word their particular party says -- on either side, though it appears the Republicans have that down to a science. Heaven forbid one of you right-wingers disagree with the almighty Mr. Bouncey-Bounce ....

[emmalee]

GOP's opposition of Sotomayor is simply because Obama nominated her.. She is very qualified and justified in her decisions.. One should question the SC for they are the ones who "changed" the rules while overturning a decision she made along with 4 other judges. She is criticized for saying her background and experience would help her as a Judge.. When Alito was nominated he said the same thing and with much more detail. He said his parents being immigrants and him a catholic would help him in his position as Judge. Where was the criticism on that if you are going to criticize Sotomayor for saying the same thing about ones history helps you make decisions? This is just bigotry at its best. I am an Independent but the conservative and republican party has lost me due to there childishness, racism, ignorance and putting someone like Sarah Palin in the public eye.. There is no telling what they would do out of desperation.. SHAME SHAME ON THEM!

[RedPower09]

First of all, she made the decision with two other judges, that's how the Appellate Court works. Also, her rationale in making that decision was disagreed with unanimously since the four dissents cited different reasons and the majority obviously disagreed. A judge who makes a decision based on rationale that no one on the Court agrees with, from Thomas to Ginsberg is a flag of concern for me.
Second of all, the major reason I'm opposed to her is that she is an activist judge. However, that said, I am open to changing my mind. I would REALLY like it if she would answer Cornyn's questions so I could make a better judgment on her.

[babyboomerorig]

This is the kind of information we really need to know....you go, girl!

[amantell]

I liked Sotomayor before for all the expressed reasons she was nominated. This only adds to the list. Only in recent years has the general public started to gain a true appreciation for the damage white collar criminals can cause. It looks like Sotomayor's been ahead of the curve.

[GOPonEllisDee]

She's got my vote then.

[barackobama4prez]

Hmmmm.......the more I read about her the more I see why Sessions and others are so fearful. And the more I like her.

[labman57]

The GOP's opposition of Sotomayor is another example of their obstructionist philosophy: It's a decision in search of a rationale.