Sotomayor Pick Will Drive GOP Crazy: Saved Baseball, Ended Nude Photo Show

In picking Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama looked past her immaculate bio and the diversity she represents. In so doing, he also picked a Judge who did a couple things that will make it hard to peg her as liberal activist judge.

She has been well vetted. She was on the short list of candidates who were projected to be likely Kerry picks for the Supreme Court were he to become president in 2004.

Moreover, Sotomayor "saved baseball" and she ended a controversial nude photo shoot of 100 people in New York, helping then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani get out of a major political conundrum.

Obama referred to the baseball case in his speech: some say Judge Sotomayor saved baseball. That somebody was Murray Chass, writing for the Sunday New York Times.

On February 20, 2005, Chass wrote this:

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who has probably not received enough credit for saving baseball -- though that was not what she set out to do -- ordered owners to restore the work rules that were in the expired agreement, and the players ended their strike.

The season was December 1994, when baseball owners were in a stalemate with the baseball players union. Remember this one? The union went at the National Labor Relations Board, which agreed with the union's position that the owners should not be allowed to impose new work rules. The board sought an injunction in federal court. The union representing the players would end the strike if the board got the injunction, which they did, and the players returned to work.

Now conservatives may not like the unions, but no one in their right mind will go against keeping baseball in play.

More on the nude photo dispute: this one should definitely tie some folks up. New York Times July 18, 1999. The 2nd circuit issued a temporary stay of the federal district court judge decision that would have allowed the session by the artist Spencer Tunick to photograph 100 nude people in public for a staged public photo session in lower Manhattan. In this one, you can see how she bailed former Mayor Rudy Giuliani out:

The Giuliani administration won a round yesterday in its legal fight to keep a Brooklyn artist from assembling 100 naked people in lower Manhattan for a photograph.

This from the New York Times:

The stay, issued by a three-judge panel convened for an unusual Saturday session, effectively put Mr. Tunick's plan to photograph the 100 nude people on hold until August or September, when lawyers for both sides will present their arguments.

Mr. Tunick, 30, had planned to take the photograph at 5:30 A.M. today on Madison Street between Catherine and Market Streets in lower Manhattan. The city had argued that Mr. Tunick's plan should be stopped because he would be attracting a large number of nude models to a residential area. The ruling superseded Friday's decision by Judge Harold Baer Jr. of United States District Court in Manhattan, who ruled in favor of Mr. Tunick, finding that artistic nude photography is a form of expression protected by the First Amendment as well by state law.

Lawyers for the city, however, said the presence of 100 nude people would infringe on neighborhood residents' right to privacy. "It's not the content, it's the issue of privacy, of people not to be intruded upon," Sherrill Kurland, a lawyer representing the city, had argued before Judge Baer on Wednesday.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani applauded yesterday's ruling, and his Corporation Counsel, Michael D. Hess, who argued the appeal in person, said: "The city's position has been vindicated."

Still, 28 Senators, led by Ashcroft, opposed her appointment to the 2nd circuit under President Clinton. Not enough to block her. Seems this time it won't be worth the fight, unless Republicans want a fight they can't win. Which is possible.

Comments

[Franklee]

Truth time: they only hate Sotomayor because Obama picked her. They were going to hate the pick if it were Mother Theresa freshly raised from the dead.

[toxicbrainpoison]

I remember this... i have no clue how you can keep people out of a neighborhood in the name of privacy. like lower manhattan/chinatown is a freakin gated community... that was a really weak argument.

[joceeco]

I would rather the Sotomayor pick drive the GOP out of America!!!

[Mulvaney]

The White House has sought to reassure people that "Sotomayor often forges consensus and agreeing with her more conservative nominees far more frequently than she disagrees with them." It is interesting that the Democratic administration goes out of its way to assure people to that its nominee is moderate while Republicans stick to their principles and put Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito on the court.

Given the way that the "gang of four" have shifted the debate within the court, I am not sure what the word "moderate" really means. But I hope she will make a fine justice. And it will be fun to watch the Republicans try to say "no," which seems about the only thing they can say these days.

[nk007]

Time to be honest and call a spade a spade. Republicans are opposed to Judge Sonia Sotomayor because she is a smart woman of color, who has been nominated by another smart and thoughtful person of color who happens to be the President. The opposition is not about his experience: she brings more experience to the court, having served for seventeen years on the Federal Bench (Six as trial District Judge and Eleven as an appellate Judge on the 2nd Court of Appeals). That is more experience as a federal judge than any of the justices currently on the Supreme Court; and more judicial experience than any other nominee in the past 70 years. Surely the opposition cant be about her academic credentials. She graduated Summa cum laude from Princeton University, and graduated from Yale Law School where she served in a prestigious position as editor of Yale Law Review. Finally, the opposition can't be because she is such "a far left radical" who espouses "judicial activism." After reviewing some of her cases she appears to be a sensible and reasonable moderate judge who believes in upholding the principles enshrined in the Constitution. The opposition is all about saying "NO" to any decision Obama makes with the intent of making him a failed President.

[mikey2]

The GOP would have opposed ANYONE at all. Wouldn't matter if Obama had nominated Scalia's doppelganger...

[tigerakabj]

Amen. In their minds, Obama shouldn't even be president to begin with, he should be out picking cotton or something. And now he's appointing another person of color, who is also a strong-willed woman that speaks her mind (doesn't know her place)? Oh heck to the no!

Fox News was absolutely losing it (more than they normally are).

[GhiaccioPronto]

The court did NOT block the photograph, merely issued a temporary stay, It also appears that
Sotomayor had nothing to do with it. Before: VAN GRAAFEILAND, CALABRESI, and SACK, Circuit Judges.

http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/228/228.F3d.135.99-7823.1999.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/20/nyregion/court-rules-nude-photo-can-be-taken-on-the-street.html

[RoseMerry]

Damn, stopping Spencer Tunick is the first bad thing I have heard about her. I can live with that if she will use her prosecutor chops to try a few war criminals, both past and present.

[GhiaccioPronto]

Spencer Tunick was not stopped, slowed more like. He had to argue his case before 2d circuit--and won.

[TheBaffler]

Alrighty then. A better question is why should we leftists be satisfied with this triangulating selection of a milquetoast centrist for such an important position?

[herbkornfeld]

I certainly wouldn't call her a "milquetoast".

I, for one, want centrists on the Court for the same reason I object to activist ideologues like Scalia and Thomas: I want the Constitution followed. I do NOT want judicial activism, even though I may agree with the Justices' position, from either side. The Court is suppose to be a balancing power, not a rubber-stamp for Congress or the Executive.

Right now it might be OUR congress and White House, but rest assured, it won't always be.

[weatherwaxx]

And you've got a better candidate? Centrists are, in the long run, the best people to put in this sort of position.

[jsgaetano]

The Goopers will oppose her for two reasons- 1. because she's a latina, and 2. because Obama is trying to appoint her. Which, ultimately, end up being the same reason.

[Jazzman323]

So much for that thing Obama talked about during the election, bringing people together, ending the partisan divide. We all new he was a liar. That does drive Republicans crazy.

[Subterfuge]

Sarcasm?

[Beegood]

hysterical, yet pathetic that repubs think people will buy the line that he's a lier because he didn't end the partisan divide. it is very obvious that the repubs are doing all they can do to be partisan so they can prevent that. Obama didn't lie, he has tried to reach out, it takes 2 to tango, duh.
Republicans think we are all fools.

[weatherwaxx]

Oh, go back under the troII bridge. There is NOTHING Obama can do that will not be attacked by the Greedy Old Pervs, and NO ONE he could appoint that would not be opposed -- so just stuff it.

[larry278]

What is the take of the Lords of MLB on her nomination? MLB is in a position to move franchises outside the USA & across the ocean. Japan, China & Mejico City are inline for MLB franchises. MLB can do it by expansion too. Underperforming franchises could get a healthy infusion of cash & loyal fans by going outside the USA. MLB could use a combo of expansion & moving franchises outside the USA. It smells & looks like money. MLB appreciates money.

[weatherwaxx]

y'know, if you want people to understand what you're talking about instead of trying to sound like the know-all insider, you might spell out your acronym. MLB? If it's baseball, get a grip--the Supreme Court is not a sports bar.

[LMPE]

Ashcroft opposed her nomination. When your nomination is opposed by someone who wanted to cover up a statue's genitals, you're on a good path.

[Shwazy]

She is a moderate, and her record bears this out.

Attacking moderates is a surefire formula for reducing the GOP to permanent minority status.

[jsgaetano]

I'm just hoping they Stay the Course.

[XME]

Very possible...seems lately all the GOP wants is a fight, regardless of the logic (or lack thereof) or results.

[elbzee]

Yep, they sure do love to fight... Lack of logic... Lack of facts... Lack of planning... Lack of morality.

[weatherwaxx]

HeII, those chowderheads were practicing their "no-no-no" cheers before there was a post to fill. If Obama nominated Jesus they'd be against it -- waaaay too liberal!

[BlueTide]

Actually Judge Sotomayer has a reputation of being a moderate. She is not a liberal in the Thurgood Marshall or Justice Brennan sense. It would be unwise for the Republicans to oppose her on political grounds because Obama can easily pick a more liberal justice. Judge Sotomayer politically is very much in the Bill Clinton fold, and will be philosophically in line with Justice Breyer and Ginsburg.