Sotomayor: A Good Choice, but Hardly Radical
President Obama has selected Sonia Sotomayor as the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court judge. As Salon's Glenn Greenwald wrote this morning, Sotomayor's appointment is encouraging news. She's a smart, capable judge.
Of course, the right is already ripping out their hair in hysterics. Glenn Beck's Twitter -wondered if Obama, the "messiah," has healed Sotomayor's diabetes yet. Michelle Malkin proved that Twitter's 140 character cap isn't too strict to include both a vague sexist and racist remark.
It's typical that Conservatives would be annoyed by any appointment of a liberal to the Supreme Court, let alone (perish the thought) a woman and a Hispanic. However, Sotomayor is hardly some liberal radical. In many respects, her voting record is similar to Justice Souter's.
I'm sure there are valid criticisms of Sotomayor out there somewhere, but aside from Jeffrey Rosen's petty gossip, all I have seen thus far are poorly disguised racist and sexist remarks about her being the newest token addition to the Supreme Court. As though graduating top of one's class at Princeton and serving honorably on the appellate court doesn't qualify Sotomayor as a serious intellectual.
Sotomayor is a capable addition to the high court. Let's hope the Republicans don't embarrass themselves too badly trying to block her appointment. Any personal attacks against her character will inevitably look racist, sexist, and elitist.
Cross-posted from Allison Kilkenny's blog. Also available on Facebook and Twitter.
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"Let's hope the Republicans don't embarrass themselves too badly trying to block her appointment."
Let's hope they do.
NO, any resistance will be made to look racist and sexist, it's already being framed that way.
You assert her absolute qualifications and frame it as sexist and racist to object to her.
Any objection to a liberal idea is demonized. Latinos don't need white liberals to defend them, but it's what white liberals appoint themselves to do.
Really? From Wikipedia:
In Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush,[41] Sotomayor upheld the Bush administration's implementation of the Mexico City Policy which requires foreign organizations receiving U.S. funds to "neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations". Sotomayor held that the policy did not constitute a violation of equal protection, as the government "is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds".[42]
Did you get that last quote?
The Republicans aren't going to embarrass themselves. If the nonsense that I have heard today continues, they are going to tank their remaining support among women and Hispanics.
NO, let us hope the rethuglicants embarasse themselves TOTALLY over this nomination.
The sooner they disappear, the better for the country.
Yes, her nomination was a good idea. Those Repubs are grinding their teeth and have no meat to put in them.
You liberals would cut off your own nose if you thought it'd upset Republicans. Don't you realize you and your children thrive under the same constitution as the Republicans? Your backing of activist judges and their broad interpretation of the the constitution will negatively affect all of us.
How? Feel free to elaborate. If you feel that strongly about it, support it eloquently change my mind. Don't just make a statement and let it hang out there.
Write to your friend rush......
I wish one of the right wing ranters would take a moment to explain, with definition and examples, what an "activist" judge is and how they differ from the right wing nuts on the court who have been legislating from the bench and even, on one notable occasion, intervened to select the President.
Activist = I didn't like the judge's decision.
Again -- "As a federal judge, Sotomayor’s commitment to “serving the underprivileged” has led her to some highly contentious legal decisions where she has placed “empathy” over common sense or the dictates of the law. In 1998, the Family Research Council mockingly bestowed on Sotomayor its Court Jester Award for her decision to extend the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to a woman whose self-identified “handicap,” which caused her to fail the New York State bar exam several times, was her illiteracy. "
What a dufus. (not the one who failed the bar exam)
Really? Credit to freerepublic.com
"The common thread in Sotomayor’s decisions seems to be her view that discrimination remains pervasive in the United States, and that the role of a judge is to “level the playing field,” even if it means rewarding the unqualified and punishing the deserving, while ignoring the law in the process. It is indicative of how she sees the role of a justice that she has previously said that the Court of Appeals “is where policy is made.” This is the textbook definition of judicial activism. Unfortunately, it is also “the critical ingredient” that Barack Obama has identified as the chief “criterion” by which he will select the next Supreme Court justice."
Actually, it's an accurate description of what happens. When the appeals court makes a ruling, that sets a precedent that law enforcement follows, so it becomes de facto policy, until/unless overruled by a higher court. It's nothing new.
Try again.
Thanks for the link to scotusblog -- I hod no idea that existed, and it has almost exactly the information I was interested in learning about her.
Of course, to the shrunken Republican Party, David Souter is a wild-eyed radical.
Let's hope the Republicans don't embarrass themselves too badly trying to block her appointment? Let's do hope they do try to block it and end up looking stuped again. Another nail in the coffin of the Rush/Dick machine.
Michelle Malkin already made a racist comment about Sonia Sotomayor? Alright! I was hoping that some reactionary wing-nut would do that, just so that the right wing can show themselves for what they really are.
"Ti ti ca ca" Malkin is as predictable as the sun coming up - she's, like, soooooo white!
I'm still chuckling over the ability from those who claim that Sotomayor is both an example of ivy league egghead intellectuals run amok with her Princeton and Yale - *and* is somehow an intellectual lightweight.
Didn't Captain Kirk once say something like that to a supercomputer to make it destroy itself in logic fail loop?
Welcome to the SCOTUS, Justice Sotomayor! The President made another wise decision in appointing you.
Now, can we please move on to importangt things?
why paint Michelle Malkin as the "racist" or "sexist"? how ridiculous. all one has to do to see one of those is look at Sotomayor's legal opinions to see one of those:
? Wrote the 2008 opinion supporting the City of New Haven's decision to throw out the results of a firefighter promotion exam because almost no minorities qualified for promotions. The Supreme Court heard the case in April 2009 and a final opinion is pending.
I think that your timing was unfortunate. Who would have expected that your comment on the insanity of John Bolton's prediction of a North Korean nuclear test would be so soon followed by a North Korean nuclear test?
Apart from the effect that faux pas may have on the credibility of your other analyses (such as this one about the USSC nominee), does intellectual honesty require you to retract the comments you made about Mr. Bolton's analysis of the threat to Israel in your now discredited column?
I never posted any comment about Bolton or NoKo. you either have me confused with someone else, or you've completely imagined it.
Michelle may not be racist or sexist, just vituperous.
You meant voluptuous?
Did you read Malkin's twitter comment that the author linked to?
It is vaguely racist and sexist, exactly as the author described.
No, he's too busy dreaming about Michelle running up to his jeep and going "me love you long time"
Can you post a link to this opinion she "wrote?" I'd like to read it.
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