Sotomayor On Losing End In First Supreme Court Decision

WASHINGTON — Justice Sonia Sotomayor is getting into the swing of being a member of the Supreme Court.

Sotomayor made what appears to be her first public decision as a justice on Monday, voting unsuccessfully to delay the execution of an Ohio death row inmate.

She voted along with the court's liberal bloc – Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer – to stop the execution of Jason Getsy, whose execution is Tuesday.

Getsy had asked the nation's high court Monday to allow him to challenge Ohio's lethal injection system as cruel and unusual punishment. The court's other five justices voted to deny the stay.

Getsy, 33, was sentenced to die for shooting 66-year-old Ann Serafino in 1995 in Hubbard, Ohio, near Youngstown.

The Supreme Court said Sotomayor did not participate in the court's other death penalty decision of the day: to order an evidentiary hearing for death row inmate Troy Davis, whose lawyers say they have evidence that he did not kill the off-duty police office for which he was condemned.

Sotomayor, 55, became the first Hispanic and third female justice in the court's 220-year history after taking an oath of office earlier this month from Chief Justice John Roberts.

She will sit in on her first Supreme Court hearing on a key campaign-finance case on Sept. 9. The new term doesn't formally kick off until Oct. 5.

Comments

[Insightful]

03:47 PM on 08/20/2009

What does Sotomayer think is a kind death penalty? Was this murderer being kind and considerate when he killed his victim?? She is exactly what I thought she would be.

Cruel to victims and kind to criminals.

[thiggins68]

03:46 PM on 08/20/2009

If lethal injection is cruel then what isn’t?

She must have felt empathy for the convicted murderer.

[RyKi]

02:23 PM on 08/20/2009

I'm glad she's in there, but lethal injection cruel and unusual? This guy probably deserves a lot worse.

[SenGovLuvr]

09:22 AM on 08/20/2009

This HIRED HIT MAN shot his target,(who survived by playing dead), and then shot the target's mother to death many times as she was a witness.
Then, this HIRED HIT MAN questions the Ohio death penalty method as being cruel punishment?
and Soto agrees?
go figure.............. Surely this hispanic woman and her rich history know better than the state of Ohio;

Coming soon........Your state laws will trampled on next.

[berrycooda]

04:41 PM on 08/19/2009

Seems that shooting somebody is pretty cruel and unusual.

Does this killer remember when they used to use the electric chair.
Now that really sounds cruel and unusual to me.

Justice Sotomayor is in the practice mode for what is to come.
However, I wouldn't want to be the one making the decision for
when someone should die.
But you can't go round killing other people and expecting not to pay for your crime. Maybe a few more deterrents would prevent some of the senseless murders that happen.
When the consequences aren't too bad, criminals tend to keep on doing their dirty deeds.
To some, a jail cell with free food, dental, vision, HEALTH CARE etc
isn't too shabby to some criminals.

[MikeDu]

01:43 PM on 08/20/2009

"Seems that shooting somebody is pretty cruel and unusual."

Funny how that wasn't the general opinion with the Right when Cheney shot and very nearly killed a lawyer. And let's not forget that Marine rampage at Haditha where twice as many people were gunned down as at Columbine. And what about Jerry Falwell calling for the assasination of foreign leaders? Not to mention the recent national concealed weapon bill that you tried to sneak by. I thought the right was 'okay' with shooting people.

[megawhy]

07:01 AM on 08/19/2009

Sotomayor....Liberals are as liberals do.

[AmbivalentGuy]

10:07 AM on 08/19/2009

And that means ... ?
What, not kill?

Then what do non-liberal people do?
Lock and load, let Jesus sort 'em out?

[Elkims]

07:00 AM on 08/19/2009

So what? You win some, you loose some. There is plenty of time for other cases.

[igorz]

07:00 AM on 08/19/2009

The BIG news is that she's one of us.

[3dtrix]

03:01 AM on 08/19/2009

Once one becomes a justice, the next truly important news story about you is your obituary - which is as it should be - unless there's an unfortunate encounter in a public restroom. She's beyond our reach now - let it (and her) be...

[mcmutter]

04:40 AM on 08/19/2009

please don't pull L arry c raig into this

[Dosadi]

11:03 PM on 08/18/2009

She was right. Lethal injection starts by paralyzing your muscles so no one can hear or see you scream, then other chemicals start destroying your heart and respiratory functions. You lay there suffocating but unable to even struggle. The pain as your heart fights to survive will be similar to having a heart attack except, you can't move, can't complain or cry out. Remember your muscles are paralyzed but your nerve endinga are working overtime. This is torture that has been cleaned up to look humane. It is not. A bullet to the back of the head is quicker and more humane. Lethal injection is torture, the folks who created the chemical compounds know it but were just following the prescribed specs.

[ILBucki]

10:31 PM on 08/18/2009

At least she is consistent. That exclusive club she wanted to join & who is now stuck with her disagreed with her what was it -- 80% of the time? What's one more???

[3dtrix]

03:06 AM on 08/19/2009

And what high office have you been nominated to - you with the mismatched socks and stained shirt?

[Bluedanube]

09:42 PM on 08/18/2009

March on Washington for healthcare reform on Sept. 13th. Pass it along. The people united cannot be defeated.

[TruthJusticeForAll]

11:16 PM on 08/18/2009

Care to bet? The game is rigged.

[billysix]

03:18 AM on 08/19/2009

United people? 54% oppose government takeover of health care. You need to read real news. Not HuffPo.

[byla]

10:25 AM on 08/19/2009

Link, please.

[Archie1955]

09:32 PM on 08/18/2009

Jude Sotomayor replaced a progressive judge so the extremist right wing conservatives are still in control of the court. Monsters like Scalia have to go. What he argued as reported, that if a man who was actually innocent (proven from new evidence) has been earlier found guilty and given the death sentence then he has no Constitutional right to be released but should be executed. Does not the preamble to the Constitution not state the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"? Scalia and the rest of the evil devil worshipers on the high court are a danger to the country and to the well being of the nation. His argument is so specious and so unjust as to create a question of his mental capacity.

[Jamal5]

09:17 PM on 08/18/2009

Try em and fry em. The Texas way. Abortions on demand the liberal way.

[VerdeGirl]

07:51 AM on 08/19/2009

Abortion should be between a woman and her God, not a woman and her government.

[readyfornewleadership]

09:09 PM on 08/18/2009

March on Washington for Health Care Reform – September13th

pass it on

[Bobzmcishl]

09:15 PM on 08/18/2009

I will be back in D.C area then. Where are details?

[vie2012ne]

09:45 PM on 08/18/2009

There's gonna be a march on Seattle Washington to protest in favor of health care for illegals.

[Peabodies]

10:23 PM on 08/18/2009

Keep tuned. It'll be in the morning of Sept. 13, a Sunday, in Washington, D.C.

[megawhy]

06:56 AM on 08/19/2009

The 13th? How appropriate!