Sonia Sotomayor on The Huffington Post

Raúl de Molina: Thanks for the Welcome

2009-12-29T12:26:44Z

This is my 12th year in a row celebrating the arrival of the New Year by hosting Univision's coverage from Times Square in New York City. There are so many things that change over the years and so many differences you notice from year to year, both about your own situation and those around you.

While I live with my family in South Florida, I enjoy visiting New York and always appreciate seeing so many Univision fans. But over the years, I've noticed real changes in the makeup of the NYC's Hispanic community, a difference I've also seen in other American cities.

During my earlier visits, the Hispanic community in New York was dominated by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, while these days you can see the significant increase in Mexican immigrants, along with new arrivals from places like Ecuador, Colombia and other Central and South American countries.

As I meet many of these new immigrants working hard, finding their way, I think back to my own arrival in this country at the impressionable age of 16. I had come to Miami, looking for the American Dream. The first thing I noticed was that Miami wasn't much different than Madrid, where I had previously lived, or Havana, where I was born. Here everyone spoke Spanish. I had wanted to learn English as quickly as possible but I soon realized that Miami was, and is, very different from any other city in America.

When I began to travel around the country I would notice in places like Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix and even Texas that Latinos didn't want to speak Spanish. You would ask a question, only to be answered in English. Not only that, many of them were intensely proud that their children only spoke English! How things have changed...

In those same cities nowadays you are sometimes hard-pushed to find someone who will actually speak English. I remember the bumper stickers in Miami in the 80's that read, "Will the last American to leave Dade County bring the flag and turn off the lights?" How would they read now in Chicago, Charlotte and even Atlanta where over half a million Hispanics live?

A Hispanic presence now permeates all levels of America. There's nothing more American than baseball and apple pie but these days, the people most likely to be speaking English at a baseball game are the umpires and the team owners. Even the guy who dated Madonna and Kate Hudson is Hispanic. As for the apple pie, last time I checked, a woman from Puerto Rico was in the kitchen making it. Even the pastrami guy at the Carnegie Deli in New York City isn't from Brooklyn, or even Tel Aviv, he's from Mexico. I have seen it with my own eyes. Colombian racecar driver Juan Pablo Montoya, in the classically old boy sport of NASCAR, recently came within an inch of winning the season's title, while over in the field of late night television, George Lopez is staking his claim amongst Letterman, Leno and Conan O'Brien.

The 2010 census will show that over 50 million Hispanics now live in the United States, making it one of the biggest Hispanic countries in the world. I would never have believed 20 years ago that a Hispanic would one day be sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States. The only Puerto Rican most people knew was the super of their building, or Rita Moreno. Now Sonia Sotomayor is a household name. All we need now is for Sotomayor to host Saturday Night Live. Then we'll have truly arrived.

Had you asked Rush Limbaugh a few years ago if an African American with a name like Barack Hussein Obama could make it into the White House, he would have bet his prescription drugs against it. You don't need me to tell you who won that bet.

So as we advance into 2010, Lou Dobbs, take a moment to reflect. Remember that one of the Latinos you so systematically bash could well be your President one day. You can bet your Senate run on it.

By the way Lou, sit down any weekday between 6 and 10 pm and watch a telenovela (soap opera) and maybe you would become more passionate about Hispanics in a positive way.

That's all for now and Feliz año Nuevo (happy new year) to all of you in the greatest country in the world.

Raúl de Molina will host Univision's New Year's Eve special Thursday night for the 12th straight year.

Chris Weigant: My 2009 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 1]

2009-12-25T23:23:59Z

Welcome once again to our year-end wrapup and awards ceremony. Honesty dictates that I immediately genuflect to The McLaughlin Group, from whom I have stolen all these award categories. We will begin this week with Part 1 of these annual awards, and then next Friday on New Year's Day, we will present Part 2, with reduced volume levels (for those who are nursing hangovers... ahem).

Before we begin, though, we have to insert a free plug, for another year-end awards column with a slightly different theme -- awards for idiocy in the mainstream media (a subject near and dear to my own heart, I confess). Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting has their "2009 P.U.-Litzer Awards" up, and I heartily encourage everyone to read it as well, because it is excellent and well worth your time.

And, for comparison, it simply wouldn't be Friday around here if I didn't throw in a few plugs for my own columns, so if you'd like to peruse my McLaughlin Awards from years past, here are the previous three years' worth:

[2008, Part 1] [2008, Part 2]
[2007, Part 1] [2007, Part 2]
[2006, Part 1] [2006, Part 2]

But enough of that -- let's get right to the awards themselves!

Biggest Winner of 2009

I have a history of taking these first two categories literally (Michael Phelps won this award last year, for instance). And there were two political wins last year which stood out, for separate reasons, so we're going to hand out two Biggest Winner awards as a result.

The first, for "Biggest Deferred Win" goes to none other than Senator Al Franken, who had to wait until the end of June to be officially declared the winner in the Minnesota Senate race over Norm Coleman. Waiting eight months to be seated, on a razor-thin 314-vote margin, Al Franken certainly deserves some sort of award for his patience. Maybe I should call it the "Hardest-Fought Win" award, but whatever you call it, Senator Franken deserves a salute for becoming the 60th vote Democrats desperately needed in the Senate.

Over in the House, the "Most Impressive Winner" this year was none other than Representative Bill Owens, from the New York Twenty-Third Congressional District. Owens won a House seat that, when last held by a non-Republican, was a Whig -- in the 1850s. This stunning upset was made possible by the "Tea Party" movement within the Republican Party, which so savaged Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava that she actually dropped out days before the election -- and then endorsed the Democrat in the race. [Hundreds of television "journalists" immediately breathed a collective sigh of relief that they wouldn't have to learn how to pronounce "Scozzafava" correctly, as an indirect result.] Hopefully, we can all look forward to many more of these sorts of intra-party dogfights in 2010, but for his jaw-dropping upset, Bill Owens deserves to be named Biggest Winner this year.

Biggest Loser of 2009

My first inclination for Biggest Loser was "Progressives," for obvious reasons. But then I thought about it, and Progressives may not be progressing as fast or as far as they thought they were going to under President Obama, but they certainly didn't "lose" as much as they would have under President McCain. This is small consolation indeed, but "losing" isn't just the absence of winning.

But, on a very closely-related and somewhat-overlapping theme, I'd have to award the Biggest Loser to the people pushing strongly for some version of the public option, Medicare-for-all, or single-payer healthcare reform.

Proponents of fundamental and bedrock change in America's health delivery system lost. Big time. Although there is a small chance (measured as the length of time a roughly-packed spheroid of frozen dihydro-monoxide would survive in Hades) of some shred of one of these plans surviving in the House/Senate conference on the healthcare reform bill, I'm not exactly holding my breath.

So, to the millions and millions of people who wanted to actually reform our healthcare system, and are having to swallow the bitter pill of being thrown under a bus instead, we award the Biggest Loser of 2009, with sorrow.

Best Politician

This one is going to be a bit controversial, so allow me to explain up front. "Politician" can be either a neutral term or one loaded with negative connotations. But the best practitioner of politics this year was (surprise!) President Barack Obama.

Which pegs our definition somewhat towards the negative end of the scale. Obama was, to many, overcautious this year in flexing his political muscle, in using the mandate the voters gave him, and in spending political capital in general. All of which was true, to one extent or another.

But staying out of the sausage-making fray in Washington did exactly what President Obama intended -- allowed him to swoop in at the end, and claim credit for the legislative victory. He did this most noticeably on the stimulus package and on healthcare reform. In both cases, he was never tarred with the brush of "defeat" on any particular facet of the legislation, and emerged at the end with virtually the exact same line: "I got 90 percent of what I wanted."

Although this has frustrated a great many of his supporters no end, it (again) did exactly what Obama intended. So, tarnished as the term may be, Obama has to be seen as the Best Politician of the year for playing this political game on his own terms. I'm not exactly happy about it myself, but I have to give credit where credit is due.

Worst Politician

There are two names which pop instantly to mind in this category, but one of them is no longer in office, so we're not sure he qualifies.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney showed the absolute worst traits a politician can -- sour grapes -- at pretty much every opportunity he could during 2009. You'd think he was gone for good (or, more accurately, for worse)... but then there he'd be, popping up on the television screen yet again, with his opinion of why Obama was sending this country straight to Hell, on the Handbasket Express. The fact that he was so bitterly wrong didn't seem to deter the teevee shows from allowing him on whenever he felt the urge, even though he was so utterly irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

But, again, he's out of office, and I simply don't feel like giving the man an award for anything, personally, so we'll skip over him quickly.

Now, there were plenty of examples of corporate-owned "Democrats" in Congress (most noticeably in the Senate) this year, for whom you could make a strong case of being the Worst Politician. But again, I take this category more literally.

Unquestionably the Worst Politician of the year was the titular leader of the Republican Party, Michael Steele. Steele was an embarrassment to his own party, pretty much every time he opened his mouth, and he provided his opponents with so many gleefully idiotic quips that it is impossible to accurately count them all. He was, for Lefties, the gift that just kept right on giving, over and over again. So, for embarrassing his own party while creating joy and delight for his opponents -- while delivering absolutely no tangible political benefit whatsoever, either way -- Steele is hereby awarded the Worst Politician.

Most Defining Political Moment

Because it is fresh in the mind, it's tempting to say that the death of the public option in the healthcare reform debate was the Most Defining Political Moment of 2009.

But it really doesn't qualify, because it didn't define the debate so much as it did end it.

No, the truly Most Defining Political Moment this year was when Barack Obama named his economic team, and got them confirmed. This absolutely defined the first year of his presidency. Obama was stating loud and clear by his choices that he was going to be Wall Street's best friend, and that nobody should expect any radical populism from him whatsoever.

This shaded the debate on so many things during the year that, by definition, it was indeed the Most Defining Political Moment.

Turncoat Of The Year

In an absolute upset, for the first time ever this award is not going to Senator Joe Lieberman, of the "Liebermans for Lieberman" party. Ol' Joe has walked away with this award every year we've handed it out; but this year -- even with a spectacular finish killing off every progressive notion of healthcare reform -- Joe just didn't measure up. Because he's already turned his coat. He would really only be eligible this year if he had become the most liberal member of the Senate, which (as we are all aware) did not happen (see: previous statement on snowballs in Hell).

Towards the end of the year, we had a minor contender in the House, who changed parties from Democrat to Republican, but in the grand scheme of things this was fairly non-eventful, although it does deserve a mention here. Also worth pointing out was Olympia Snowe, who certainly didn't make any friends in her own party by occasionally crossing the aisle to vote with Democrats. And John McCain, who has pivoted to the extreme right of his party so hard he is denouncing things he used to support (quite recently, in fact), in a naked attempt to get re-elected (see: comment on fratricidal Tea Party primary challengers).

But, although it has receded into memory for the most part, the true Turncoat Of The Year -- in the most positive sense of the term you can imagine -- is Senator Arlen Specter. Specter's switch from the Republican Party to the Democrats is what made most of the rest of the year possible. Before Al Franken was seated, Specter was the one who made it possible for a 60-vote majority by his party switch. I can't exactly cite him for courage in doing so, because he also swapped parties in a naked attempt to hold onto his seat, from (once again) a Tea-Party-type of primary challenger. But Specter is now facing a serious Democratic primary challenger next year, so it may have all been in vain for him to do so. But whether he gets booted out or retained by Pennsylvania voters next year; for this year, he is fondly awarded the Turncoat Of The Year.

Most Boring

There are three candidates from the Democratic side for Most Boring. Actually, now that I think about it, pretty much "The entire Republican leadership team in both houses of Congress" should also qualify as well (Mitch McConnell? Seriously? That's all you've got? Wow.), but we'll stick to the Democrats for the actual award here.

Just on stylistic points alone, Joe Lieberman and Harry Reid deserve special mention here. [Yawn!] Man, you see either of this characters on television, and your head just involuntarily starts nodding off. I mean, watching Lieberman speak is about as exciting as watching paint dry, and listening to a Harry Reid press conference is about as packed with thrills as watching an icicle melt.

I have to slap myself across the face to even keep awake when writing about them, I have to admit.

But continuing this year's upside-down nature of how I am interpreting these categories, I am awarding this as a positive award. Because Barack Obama was without question the Most Boring this year. And I do mean that in a good way. The "no drama Obama" campaign theme continued right on into the White House, and Obama was cool and collected throughout a very intense year. Raging scorn was heaped upon him from the Left and from the Right (and from the media, in bucketfuls), and he somehow managed to stay above it all.

To the media, in particular, he stated over and over again that he was simply not interested in the "24-hour news cycle" where everything is about "winning the day's story," and feeding into whatever idiotic storyline the media is going apoplectic over that particular week. Obama kept the "long view" and he saw the "big picture" and -- with only one notable exception (see, below: beer summit) -- completely kept out of the snarling dogfight of daily political ups-and-downs, and trivial issues blown up into gargantuan proportions by bored media types with nothing better to report on. Actually that's not true -- there was plenty of better stuff to report on, but most of it was above the intelligence level of the so-called "journalists," leaving them to squabble over meaningless sandbox issues.

For being this cheerfully boring in the face of such strident idiocy, Obama wins Most Boring -- in the nicest possible way.

Most Charismatic

We're going to hand out two of these awards, one for the House and one for the Senate. Al Franken is trying as hard as he knows how to stifle his inherently and genetically (one assumes) hilarious nature, and thus appear as serious as is humanly possible in his new career as a politician. But every so often, he gets that wry smile on his face and just can't resist saying something amusing. This is a man who knows humor, and has a lighting-fast and razor-sharp sense of irony. To expect him to completely hide this light under a barrel is to ask too much of the man, and -- for these cracks of brightness which shine through occasionally -- we have to award him Most Charismatic in the Senate. No doubt this will be a disappointment to Franken, since, as I said, he's trying mightily not to let any of it show. But Al sometimes just has to be Al, and for that we are eternally grateful. Once he grows into his role as senator, and once he feels confident of his state electorate's support, we fully expect to see this side of him grow and mature; but, for now, we'll take what we can get.

Over on the House side is Representative Alan Grayson. Now, Grayson has occasionally overstepped the boundaries of good taste during the year, but he can be forgiven these rookie errors when you look at the totality of how energetically (and charismatically) he has injected himself into some very important debates, and (by doing so) made some very important points -- in plain, everyday, easy-to-understand language -- that nobody else on the Democratic side seems capable of making. Grayson has proved, this year, that he is a man to watch in the future of Democratic politics, and for his vigorous and entertaining ways of putting things, he has indeed earned Most Charismatic of the year.

So the "Als" sweep the category this year! Congratulations to both Franken and Grayson are in order.

Bummest Rap

This category was chock full of bum raps this year, I am sorry to say.

Not only a bum rap, but also one of the stupidest raps I've ever witnessed in politics were the early complaints that President Obama relied upon his TelePrompTer too much. What a crock -- as if every other politician dating back to Ronald Reagan (and even earlier) hadn't used the same exact device for pretty much all their public speeches. Sheesh. I mean, it's like complaining about Obama "using some newfangled personal computing device that seems to function much as a typewriter does," or, even, "using that science-fictional device which some are calling 'the telephone,' instead staying in touch via the time-honored and known-to-be-reliable telegraph system."

Sorry, my eyes were rolling so much there that I had to take a deep breath, and then re-focus on the page in front of me. Ahem.

Obama likewise got two other bum raps which were simply laughable -- that he was some sort of pacifist peacenik, and that he had said he would never sign a bill with earmarks. The first was downright laughable, because every speech Obama has ever made on war -- back to and including his initial denouncement of the Iraq invasion -- references the fact that there are indeed "just wars," and that Obama himself isn't against all wars... just stupid ones. The earmarks thing was astounding, too, because it was a campaign promise made by his opponent! That's right -- John McCain was the one who foreswore all earmarks. And yet the brain-dead media kept hammering Obama about it, as if he were the one who had made such a promise. Once again: SHEESH!!

Joe Biden deserves a mention here, since he has never lived up (down?) to the "loose cannon" bad rap the media types (and, admittedly, late-night comedians) have delighted in all year. Sure, he's made a misstatement or two (as any human being would), but he's said simply nothing like what we were all led to expect from "journalists" (see: previous brain-dead comment). Also notable for "beating the rap" (as it were) was former President Bill Clinton, who has been remarkably quiet during his wife's first year as Secretary of State.

But there were two raps which stood out as being sheer moose poop during this past year, and to these we give the actual Bummest Rap award. The first of these was Dick Cheney's comments on President Obama's "dithering" on Afghanistan. Obama took three months to make up his mind to send the second of his surges into Afghanistan (the media, in another bum rap, didn't even credit Obama for the first one). But this absolutely ignores the fact that George W. Bush took exactly the same period of time when deciding on his surge into Iraq. Making Cheney a complete moose's ass for suggesting Obama was somehow shirking his duty, and making this Bummest Rap number one for 2009.

Bummest Rap number two was pretty much everything the Republicans said about Sonia Sotomayor. Man, they threw everything at her but the kitchen sink, in a desperate effort to paint her as something she simply was not. None of it had the slightest effect, other than in the inane nature of the questions in her Senate hearing -- all of which she absolutely hit out of the park in her answers. But the caricature painted of her by her opponents was one bum rap indeed.

Fairest Rap

Two fair raps stand out for me. The first was a trivial one -- the rap that those claiming that "a million people" showed up for the Tea Party at the U.S. Capitol were, to be polite, talking through their hats. The photos showed a crowd of around 50,000 to 70,000 people. Now, as I admitted at the time, that's a pretty impressive crowd for a demonstration in Washington. But the Righties were simply not seriously credible when they attempted to inflate the crowd size beyond all reason, with their claim that a million people (or two million, or three million...) showed up. This got even more embarassing when Fox used photos of this rally to try and boost numbers for a later (and much smaller) rally by the same people. So the rap of wildly inaccurate crowd numbers was indeed a fair rap.

And, sadly, over on the Left, the rap that President Obama (and his chief henchman Rahm Emanuel) throws his supporters under the proverbial bus at pretty much every opportunity was indeed a fair rap. Emanuel comes out of the Clinton White House, with all the "triangulation" that implies. This thinking goes somewhat like: "we've already got the Left, we can afford to piss them off, we just need to peel off enough centrists to get things done." And, sadly (as I said) this is indeed a fair rap not just for Emanuel, but also for his boss.

The examples of this are almost too numerous to recall. On gay issues, on medical marijuana, on single-payer, on the public option, on anti-war types, on pro-choice, on immigration, on Wall Street over Main Street populism, on national security issues -- the list is indeed a long one of things that Obama has either disappointed on, or simply kicked the can down the road (a telling statement: I am positive I have missed a few in that list...).

So the rap that the Left should be vary wary of Obama's support, because he has a tendency to throw them under the bus, on pretty much any of their key issues, is indeed a fair one. Actually, it's getting pretty crowded under this bus, now that I think about it... sigh.

Best Comeback

The list of nominees for this one was fairly long -- Sarah Palin (for her book tour), Joe Lieberman (for being the most important senator for a few weeks recently), to perhaps even (from the other side) David Vitter. A good case could be made for "healthcare reform," since the entire effort was all but pronounced dead by the punditocracy (also known as the "inside the Beltway" set) around August. And yet, even with a heavily compromised bill, the effort marches on.

But my choice for Best Comeback is Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina. Sanford was caught in a sex scandal (see next week's category: Worst Political Scandal, for more) and the betting money was he'd either immediately resign, or be impeached and removed from office by his fellow Republicans. But when it came time to act, the state legislature did no more than slap Sanford on the wrist, and it is now clear he'll serve the remaining time in his term.

[Insert your own "don't cry for me, Argentina" joke here... ahem.]

But for such a downright "Clintonian" performance, Sanford deserves Best Comeback of the year, I have to admit.

Most Original Thinker

This one is easy, although his name will likely be unfamiliar to you. Atul Gawande wrote a brilliant article on healthcare reform in The New Yorker at the beginning of June, which examined the way a few areas of the country delivered health services. He looked at areas that did it right (and were under the national average in costs), and areas that did it wrong (that were far over the national average), while both delivering similar results.

This article quickly became "must reading" for anyone in the White House, and was probably the most-quoted piece of writing in the entire debate. It was referenced uncountable times by politicians, and did more to influence policy-makers' opinions than perhaps anything else this year.

For writing this article, Atul Gawande is the Most Original Thinker of the year. The article (like most New Yorker articles) is extremely long, but is definitely worth reading.

Most Stagnant Thinker

I have one group award here, and one special mention for an individual.

The group award: The Republican Party. The "Party of No." The idea-less ideologues. No further explanation should be necessary, really.

And for individual cognitive stagnation, a special "Retro" Most Stagnant Thinker for Governor Rick Perry (and all the others), who opened the door to Texas (and other states) actually seceding from the Union -- as if this was actually a valid political stance to take. Seriously, this throwback thinking from the 1860s goes beyond "stagnant," to downright "antebellum."

Best Photo Op

While Michelle Obama's "Victory Garden" photo ops with Washington schoolchildren were endearing, and while Barack Obama's Nobel acceptance speech was (in his own admission) nothing more than a glorified photo op; we tend to forget that 2009 also included last January.

And January 2009 saw two million people stand around for eight or nine hours in sub-zero temperatures just to watch the Inauguration of President Barack Obama.

No photo op in the successive eleven months even came close, I have to say.

Worst Photo Op

We're adding this category to the McLaughlin canon, just because.

There were a few "worst photo op" candidates, sadly all from Obama, in one way or another. The most galling of these were the two (one in the spring, one quite recently) photo ops of "Obama talks tough to Wall Street bankers," which produced exactly nothing in the way of tangible results.

And there was Obama bowing and being polite and overly-respectful (obsequious, even) to various world leaders. This is more symbolic than anything else, but I have to throw my lot in with the Obama-haters on this one (to my great chagrin and embarrassment). Because, I have to say, they're right on this one. America was built on an idea. Part of this idea was that we're all equal. This was a radical, radical idea for its time. And it meant that -- unlike the nobility and royalty in Europe -- no man would bow to our leader. He is not above us -- he is one of us. Equal. The first among equals, to be sure, but still: just a citizen. So we neither bow nor curtsey to him. But the flip side is that he also bows to no foreign leader. We are most decidedly not subjects of anyone. All of us -- individually and collectively -- are just not "subjects." Meaning we do not follow the protocol of royals. Like I said, both a minor issue, and a very major one. Such is the nature of diplomatic protocol. But Obama went too far in his efforts to reach out to the world, I have to conclude.

The third silly photo op was the whole "beer summit." The less said about this episode the better, at this point.

But the real Worst Photo Op -- which topped all of these in idiocy -- was having Air Force One (actually, technically, it was not "Air Force One" at the time, since that designation is reserved for when the president is actually onboard the plane) buzz Manhattan in order to get a photo of it flying by the Statue Of Liberty. Guys, really, there's this thing called "Photoshop," y'know? And... um... 9/11?

Sigh. Nothing really came close to this visual screwup all year long. What were they thinking? Were they thinking? Apparently not.

Enough Already!

As usual, there's a bunch of things which easily qualify for the "Enough Already!" award.

Here's where we just start ranting without abandon.

Tiger Woods? Enough Already!

Balloon Boy's parents? Enough Already!

Michael Jackson's dead? Enough Already!

Gate-crashers at the White House? Enough Already!

Death panels? Enough Already!

Town hall screaming idiots? Enough Already!

Tea Parties? Enough Already!

Sarah Palin? Enough Already!

Obstructionist Corporatist Democrats? Enough Already!

But the actual award has to go to a parliamentary rule, and how it is being abused. Filibusters (and attendant Republican obstructionism)? Enough Already!

Worst Lie

My first inclination was to just give this to "everything the Tea Partiers and town hall idiots let fly from their pie-holes," but then I thought a little more, and remembered this doozy:

Mark Sanford, explaining his absence from the state he was (and is) Executive Officer of (while he was really boinking his mistress down in South America) with the lamest lie of the entire year -- that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail at the time. Further irony was heaped upon this, by the bare-naked fact that during the period he was maintaining this falsehood, there was a nationwide celebration of "Nude Hiking Day," which must have included a few brave nudists hiking on that very same trail.

No other lie even came close, really, from Maine to Georgia (and in all other points of our great country, for that matter).

Capitalist Of The Year

This one's fairly obvious, when you think about it.

President Obama did more to advance the interests of Wall Street, and by inference "capitalism in general" than anyone else this past year. From naming his economic team at the start of the year, to allowing them to have their way with his healthcare reform plan at the end of the year; Obama did what he was told to do by his advisors, and by Wall Street itself.

More in sorrow than in anger, we have to give Obama the Capitalist Of The Year award.

Honorable Mention

This is a lead-in category to the final one for this week, and is somewhat of a catchall for odds and ends not adequately covered by the other categories in the list.

In that spirit, I'd like to give Bill and Hillary Clinton an Honorable Mention here. The fear of bringing Hillary into Obama's cabinet was that she had some baggage, and that this baggage was named "Bubba." But Hillary has been more than competent in her job, and has done so without attempting once to steal the spotlight from her boss. And Bill must be on a very short leash indeed, because there simply have been no "Bimbo eruptions," or other miscellaneous scandalous behavior (such as spotlight-stealing) from the Big Dog himself this year. For proving all the naysayers wrong, I give this extraordinary political couple the special mention they deserve.

And I have to say, it was a shame that Farrah Fawcett Majors died on the day that she did. Farrah was pretty much "Queen Sex Kitten Of The Universe" in the 1970s, with countless adolescent males discovering the joys of... um... a special type of self-love (that's as far decency allows me to go)... whilst staring fixedly (and sweatedly) at this ubiquitous bathing suit poster (still, if I'm not mistaken, the best-selling poster of all time).

Without the existence of this poster, for instance, Baywatch simply never would have occurred to anyone, later on. Farrah deserved better, on her grand exit from life's stage, than being a footnote. Which is what she wound up as, since she unfortunately chose the same day to die as Michael Jackson. All the "Charlie's Angel is now really an angel" prepared footage was woefully foreshortened and overshadowed by the final act in the circus known as the "King of Pop." Which was sad, in a way, for Farrah. So we're giving her an Honorable Mention, just for the smile she's wearing in that iconic poster.

[Full disclosure: I'll have you know, I do not speak from experience, since as a young lad I personally lusted after Kate Jackson ("Sabrina," or the "brainy one"); but I saw that Farrah poster in more of my friends' bedrooms than I saw Led Zeppelin posters -- which, for the 1970s, is saying something indeed.]

Person Of The Year

While both Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid deserve a lot of credit they simply do not get from pixel-stained wretches (such as myself) for shepherding through a raft of small-bore (and large-bore, for that matter) legislation that does not receive media attention, nobody else in particular stood out this year as deserving of the "Person Of The Year" award.

Obama obviously had the chance to shine, and pick up this award as a matter of course. But, sadly, he didn't. He fell short of the bar on any number of issues, and was simply not seen in Washington as driving the debate -- rather (sadly) as a bystander to the debate who would occasionally yell something from the sidelines.

In all honesty, and with absolutely no tinge of suck-up-i-tude, I have to say that Arianna Huffington is right. The "Person Of The Year" this year was "The Lobbyist." Here is her entire blog post on the subject:

This week, Time named Fed chair Ben Bernanke its Person of the Year. The magazine says its choice is "not an award," but rather a recognition of the person who "most influenced the news during the past year -- for good or for ill." Based on that criterion, Time should, without a doubt, have picked Washington lobbyists -- because no person or group was more influential in 2009. After an inspiring presidential campaign that promised to take on the special interests, the lobbyists flexed their muscles (and their wallets) and showed who really runs the show in DC. Lobbyists carried the day on health insurance reform, banking reform, financial reform, drug pricing, cramdown legislation, and credit card interest rates, to name just a few. And every time they won, the American people lost. It's Time for a reshoot. The Lobbyists: The Real Persons of the Year.

Sad to say, I couldn't agree with Arianna more this year.

Sigh.

As usual, for anything or anyone I've forgotten (or otherwise inadvertently omitted), please feel free to let me know your choices in the comments. Until next week's "Part 2" of these awards, I wish you a Happy Holiday!

Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground

Sotomayor Draws Testy Retort From Clarence Thomas In Debut Decision

2009-12-09T10:34:21Z

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court's newest member, delivered the Supreme Court's first opinion of the new term. The unanimous decision was noteworthy for a couple reasons: Sotomayor used the phrase "undocumented immigrant" for the first time in the Court's history, and her opinion drew a testy concurrence from Justice Clarence Thomas.

Think Progress notes that while the pejorative term "illegal immigrant" has been used in a dozen Supreme Court decisions, Sotomayor pioneered the use of "undocumented immigrant."

And the New York Times highlights Thomas' retort to Sotomayor. Sotomayor wrote that immediate appeals of federal trial-court rulings concerning the lawyer-client privilege would cause undue delays and burden the system. Although he agreed with the ruling, he added that she had "with a sweep of the court's pen" substituted "value judgments" and "what the court thinks is a good idea" for the text of a federal law.

The Court ruled against a carpet manufacturer accused of firing an employee who exposed the hiring of undocumented immigrants. From Bloomberg:

The justices ruled against carpet manufacturer Mohawk Industries Inc. in a suit by an employee who says he was fired after telling a human resources manager that the company was employing illegal aliens. Mohawk says it fired the worker, Norman Carpenter, because an attorney-led investigation concluded that he had violated immigration laws.

The question for the court was whether Mohawk could appeal an order to provide Carpenter with documents and other information about the investigation. A trial judge said the company had waived its right to attorney-client privilege, and a federal appeals court said it lacked jurisdiction to review that ruling. The justices today upheld that decision.

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Conn. firefighters promoted after court fight

2009-12-01T18:41:46Z

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The 14 Connecticut firefighters who won a reverse discrimination case in a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court have had their promotions approved by New Haven's Board of Fire Commissioners.

A formal promotion ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 10.

New Haven's White Firefighters Win Promotions

2009-11-25T16:30:05Z

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP)-- A federal judge has ordered Connecticut officials to promote 14 firefighters who won a reverse discrimination case in a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton ruled Tuesday that the civil rights of white New Haven firefighters were violated when city officials threw out the results of a 2003 promotion exam when too few minorities did well.

Her ruling followed the Supreme Court's instructions.

In 2006, Arterton had thrown out the white firefighters' lawsuit. A federal appeals court upheld her decision before the Supreme Court overturned both rulings in June.

City spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said Tuesday that New Haven intends to promote the firefighters "as soon as practicable."

Six firefighters are set to be promoted to captain and eight to lieutenant.

The case became an issue in confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She ruled against the firefighters when she was a federal appeals court judge.

Watch a news report about the promotions

Sonia Sotomayor Has Achieved Celeb Status As Supreme Court Justice

2009-11-17T09:53:09Z

By Jesse J. Holland, AP

WASHINGTON (AP) - Apparently, no one told Sonia Sotomayor that Supreme Court justices are supposed to be circumspect, emerging from their marble palace mainly to dispense legal wisdom to law schools, judges' conferences and lawyers' meetings.

Since becoming the first Hispanic justice, Sotomayor has mamboed with movie stars, exchanged smooches with musicians at the White House and thrown out the first pitch for her beloved New York Yankees. A famous jazz composer even wrote a song about her: "Wise Latina Woman."

In short, Sotomayor has become a celebrity - all without having made a single major decision at the nation's highest court.

It's not that other justices don't have their own particular glamour.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia - both opera lovers - recently had roles in the opening performance of "Ariadne auf Naxos" for the Washington National Opera. Other justices have done tours to promote their books.

But that kind of fame rarely reaches the man on the street.

Few Americans can name most of the justices. "Many, many, many more Americans can name the Seven Dwarfs than they can the people on the Supreme Court," said Bob Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University.

No so for Sotomayor.

Autograph seekers, picture takers and well-wishers hound her wherever she goes, months after her confirmation hearing, swearing-in and first appearance in the courtroom.

Recently, the new justice was swarmed by people with cameras the minute she appeared in the Grand Foyer of the White House during a celebration of Latino music.

The throng around her didn't part until the hundreds of concert guests were ushered to their seats in a giant tent on the South Lawn, and it quickly regrouped once the concert ended. Some of those lucky enough to get photos with the justice squealed and proudly displayed their happy-snaps for others in the crowd.

At that event, only Sotomayor got a standing ovation when President Barack Obama read a list of famous Hispanics from government, music and acting who were present, including George Lopez, Jimmy Smits, Los Lobos, Sheila E. and Eva Longoria Parker. Parker later on pulled Sotomayor on stage with all the musicians and the first family as everyone hugged and exchanged smooches during the finale.

Hollywood and the world of music are also paying attention to her. One of the most popular YouTube clips of Sotomayor is her confidently mamboing - in heels! - with "La Bamba" actor Esai Morales at a National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts just weeks after she was confirmed.

The song Sotomayor and Morales were dancing to? Bobby Sanabria's "Sotomayor Mambo."

And that's not the only song dedicated to her. Grammy award-winning jazzman Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra this month debuted "Wise Latina Woman," penned by O'Farrill and commissioned by The Bronx Museum of the Arts and Symphony Space in honor of Sotomayor.

The title references one of Sotomayor's most famous statements: "I would hope 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." That remark was criticized over and over by her detractors during her confirmation hearing. Since then it has been adopted by her fans as a slogan. Now it even shows up on T-shirts and other memorabilia.

It's not as if Sotomayor is pushing this public recognition.

In fact, apart from a C-SPAN program that interviewed all the justices, she is refusing television, magazine and newspaper interview requests, including a request for comment from The Associated Press for this story. Sotomayor even nixed plans by famed photographer Annie Liebowitz to shoot her for a photo spread in Vogue magazine.

She did allow Latina magazine to photograph her inside the Supreme Court building, but wouldn't submit to a formal interview even though a friend wrote the accompanying article. Wearing her black robe, the justice appeared on the cover of the latest issue prominently displaying her bright red fingernails, which White House aides had persuaded her to repolish in a demure neutral shade last July for her Senate confirmation hearing.

Even though she's avoided interviews, people recognize her everywhere. "There are people who can identify her in a line of pictures who couldn't identify some of the people who are big movie stars," Thompson said.

Part of the adulation stems from the historic nature of her appointment: the first Hispanic on the court, and only the third female, after retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and current Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"She is the first Latino, Latina to sit on the Supreme Court and that's powerful. She's a powerful role model," said Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "She will have an effect on Latino children akin to the effect that the election of the first African-American president has had and will have on African American childcare and that's encouraging. And for all of that she deservedly gets treated like a rock star."

O'Connor got her share of celebrity treatment when she became the court's first female justice in 1981.

"If there was a state dinner, an exclusive theater opening, even a new panda at the National Zoo, O'Connor was there," author and reporter Joan Biskupic said in her biography of O'Connor.

But O'Connor was appointed before the 24-hour news cycle and YouTube, where video of anything can show up anytime. A recent search of YouTube for Sotomayor brought up more than 2,000 videos, double the amount for any other sitting justice.

That kind of attention will make it difficult for Sotomayor to fade into the background, like her colleagues.

"I'm almost never recognized, which is nice. I just do the shopping and so forth and nobody knows who it is," Justice John Paul Stevens, the court's senior justice who has been on the court since 1975, said in an interview with C-SPAN.

Sotomayor is also only the third nonwhite justice. The late Thurgood Marshall joined the court in 1967, the court's first African-American justice and first nonwhite. Justice Clarence Thomas, who replaced Marshall, still serves on the court with Sotomayor.

Times were much different when Marshall arrived. The justice would tell stories of being mistaken for an elevator operator inside the Supreme Court, recalled one of his former clerks, Mark Tushnet.

These days, Thomas says he's recognized as a justice wherever he goes. "It's easier to recognize ... to pick one person out who's different," Thomas told C-SPAN.

Thompson, the Syracuse professor, said it could be a good thing for Sotomayor's fame to linger if it draws attention away from reality television stars and the like and toward the court.

Supreme Court justices "should be the celebrities," Thompson said. "Given the nature of our governmental system, these are the people that every citizen should know. These are important people."

___

Associated Press writer Nancy Benac contributed to this report.

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Sotomayor Has Romantic 'Friend With No Strings Attached': Pal Tells Magazine

2009-11-10T16:25:52Z

Sonia Sotomayor heeded White House advice to paint her fingernails a neutral shade during her Supreme Court confirmation process – up to a point.

At a White House reception after her confirmation, Sotomayor showed her freshly painted red nails to President Barack Obama, along with her red-and-black semi-hoop earrings, according to an article in the new issue of Latina magazine to be released Nov. 17. Obama joked that Sotomayor had been briefed on proper nail color and earring size.

Supreme Court To Hear Case About Excessive Pay; Parallels Seen In Executive Compensation

2009-10-31T22:11:03Z

The Supreme Court this week will hear a case that raises bedrock questions about the ability of the market to set "reasonable" corporate compensation, and experts say its outcome could hold important clues about the judiciary's view of extraordinary interventions in the economy by the executive branch and Congress.

Sotomayor's Clothes Picked By Government Officials During Supreme Court Nomination, Says New Justice

2009-10-18T18:14:28Z

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says her nomination process was so tightly scripted that even her clothes were chosen for her.

Sotomayor made the comments when she appeared at her 30th Yale Law School reunion on Saturday.

Stephanie Green: Fashion Students Design Robes for Sotomayor

2009-10-13T16:06:02Z

It's back-to-school time for new-kid-on-the-block Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, but her new school wardrobe may need a little help. As my column "Green and Glover" reported last month, her friend Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg counseled her to find a judicial robe in London or France because robes for female justices are virtually nonexistent stateside.

Never ones to let an extreme-makeover opportunity slip through our hands, we tapped some local fashion designers and high school students through our friends at Fashion Fights Poverty (FFP) to produce sketches for Justice Sotomayor to consider.

"Fashion Fights Poverty is thrilled to be able to showcase the work of students, designers and supporters that have worked with us over the years," said Elaine Mensah, FFP's fashion director and vice president for production.

Although Justice Sotomayor declined comment through a spokesperson, we're sure once she's settled in to her new role and office, her closet will be the next item on her agenda, and she'll give these up-and-coming Ralph Laurens a second look.

Go to this link to see the sketches:
www.washingtontimes.com/greenandglover

Sotomayor Asks More Questions In An Hour Than Thomas Has In Years

2009-10-06T10:57:59Z

The Supreme Court's newest justice, Sonia Sotomayor, made her presence felt as the court began its new term Monday, the AP reports.

The Supreme Court began its new term Monday by indicating a willingness to limit how long a suspect's request for a lawyer should remain valid, and new Justice Sonia Sotomayor wasted little time in letting her voice be heard by questioning the lawyers.

Just how vocal was Sotomayor on the Monday? According to McClatchy she managed to ask more questions in an hour than the extremely taciturn Clarence Thomas has asked "over the course of several years."

The Washington Post also commented on Sotomayor's confident performance in its review of Monday's session:

Sotomayor displayed no reticence on the first day of her first term on the court; in the two cases on the docket, she asked as many questions and made as many comments as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. The only sign of her newness was that she at times forgot to turn on her microphone before posing a question.

Does Clarence Thomas really ask so few questions that Sotomayor could beat his total in an hour, you may wonder. Indeed, he does. As the AP reported in February 2008, Thomas had gone 2 years and 144 cases without speaking up during oral arguments. "It is a period of unbroken silence that contrasts with the rest of the court's unceasing inquiries," the AP wrote at the time.

High Court's NEW TERM: Supreme Court Begins Term With New Justice

2009-10-06T10:07:21Z

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court began its new term Monday with Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the bench as the court tried to hash out how long a suspect's request for a lawyer should be considered valid by police and the courts.

The high court, listening to its first arguments of the session, seemed skeptical of defense lawyers' arguments that police should be banned from talking to a suspect without a lawyer present because of the possibility that the suspect had asked for a lawyer in related – and even unrelated – cases years ago.

6 Supreme Court Justices Attend Catholic Service Red Mass; Cardinal Pleads For Rights Of Unborn

2009-10-04T17:54:42Z

WASHINGTON — An American cardinal on Sunday issued a plea for the rights of the unborn at a church service that included Vice President Joe Biden, six members of the Supreme Court and hundreds of members of the legal community.

Five of the six Roman Catholics on the high court – Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito – heard the homily by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo; the sixth, Justice Clarence Thomas, did not attend. Justice Stephen Breyer, who is Jewish, was there as well.

Supreme Court's New Term: Major Decisions Looming On Gun Rights, Business Cases

2009-10-04T09:43:08Z

Highlights of some high-profile cases that the Supreme Court will take up in its term that begins Monday:

_Guns: The Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms has never been held to apply to state and local laws restricting guns. The court is taking up a challenge to a handgun ban in Chicago to decide whether this right, like many others in the Bill of Rights, acts to restrict state and local laws or only federal statutes. If the court sides with gun rights supporters, lawsuits to overturn all manner of gun control laws are likely.

Sotomayor Won't Sell Apartment In This Economy

2009-10-02T11:25:46Z

WASHINGTON — Not even Supreme Court justices are immune from the economy. Justice Sonia Sotomayor plans to keep her apartment in New York for the time being, even as she gets a place in Washington.

"Right now I – like many other Americans, it would not be wise for me to sell my home in New York because the market is so low," Sotomayor said in an interview with the C-SPAN network for a documentary on the court.

Supreme Court's New Season: Looking Ahead

2009-09-29T03:12:56Z

Questions before the Supreme Court, which begins its new term Monday, include corporate political spending, dog-fighting videos, a cross in the desert -- and whether a more unified conservative bloc emerges.

Sotomayor Wears Earrings To Throw Yankees Pitch: Silly Or Stylish? (PHOTOS, POLL)

2009-09-28T13:30:44Z

Sonia "Justice Jewelry" Sotomayor threw the first pitch of Saturday's Yankees game in style: she donned the traditional team jersey, of course, while wearing her all-star accessory...dangy earrings.

See a slideshow of Sotomayor many ear adornments.

PHOTOS:

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Video: Sotomayor's Pitch At Yankees Game Is Down The Middle

2009-09-27T03:17:00Z

NEW YORK (AP) - Sonia Sotomayor was right down the middle with her ceremonial pitch at Yankee Stadium.

The newest Supreme Court Justice, a Yankees fan from the Bronx, threw out the pitch before New York beat the Boston Red Sox 3-0 on Saturday.

"She walked off, and I said, `We'll be calling you next week with a contract,'" Yankees manager Joe Girardi recalled. "And she said she'd stick to her day job."

Wearing a Yankees jersey, she was accompanied to the field by Yankees catcher Jorge Posada. Standing a bit in front of the mound, the right-hander took the stretch position, exhaled and threw on the fly to catcher Jose Molina.

After she walked back to the Yankees' dugout, Sotomayor shook hands and spoke with Girardi.

"She talked about it was the first time she's ever played catch, and that she had been warming up," Girardi said. "And I wanted to know if her arm was sore. And when she told me, `No,' I told her she had probably not been throwing enough then."

As a U.S. District Judge in 1995, Sotomayor issued an injunction that led baseball players to end their strike after 7 1/2 months. Girardi was a catcher for the Colorado Rockies back then.

"We talked about it was happier times now in the game of baseball," he said.

Nancy Hopkins: Breaking the Gender-Merit Link

2009-09-22T17:45:16Z

The notoriously liberal state of Massachusetts has never had a
female senator in its roughly 220-year existence, a deficit that may persist
unless we stop saddling women with a higher burden to prove that they are
qualified. This year, in a special election to replace Ted Kennedy, we have
a woman running for the office. Not just any woman, but Attorney General
Martha Coakley, a highly qualified woman whose entire life has been
dedicated to public service. Yet already we see media stories linking her
gender to her merit.

Last week the Boston Globe published an op-ed by Yvonne Abraham
titled "Merit over Gender" and PolitickerNY had an article by Steve Kornacki
titled "The Martha Coakley Story". What's wrong with these articles? Why
are they examples of the unconscious gender bias in the media that keeps
women down?

I'll start with the "Merit over Gender" piece. Why is it that when
someone suggests gender diversity as an asset of a job candidate, the reply
is often "Oh no, I'm only interested in merit". Yet name some other
quality needed for the position, and the idea of merit is assumed, not
questioned.

Take for example the selection of Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. Some
people said, "we need a judge from the Midwest in order to have a more
balanced and diverse bench." I never heard anyone recoil in horror and
reply "Oh no, I'm only interested in merit. " One assumes, of course, that
it would be a meritorious candidate from the Midwest!

Obama wanted a candidate with "empathy". Did anyone believe he
wanted a person with empathy but no merit? They might have disagreed with
the need for empathy, but they never suspected that empathy precluded merit.

So why do people jump to the conclusion that if a woman is running,
we have to worry about her merit. Linking these two things plays right into
the stereotype that is what gender (and race) bias is - namely that women
(blacks) really are inferior. Otherwise, why would the subject even come
up? Linking merit to gender perpetuates an unconscious bias that has no
basis in fact. Stereotypes applied to groups spill over to taint our
judgment of individuals who belong to that group.

I've seen the exact same thing in college admissions. Colleges
often proudly announce that their students come from every state in the US.
I've even known of people who consider moving so their kids will have a
better chance of getting into a prestigious college. I have never heard
anyone question the importance of having a college class that is diverse
geographically. But say you want to take gender or race into consideration
and whoa - listen to the howling, "Can't have that. It's only merit that
matters".

What about Kornacki's snarky-toned piece about Coakley? Maybe I'm
being oversensitive on this one but to me the tone is decidedly negative.
And what is Coakley's crime? Too ambitious! Imagine a woman wanting this
job and planning how to get it and getting in ahead of the guys. And you
know what other crime she has committed? Being female. That gives her an
unfair advantage in the race according to Mr. Kornacki. Excuse me?
Recall the data in sentence one above. I don't' see that women have had
much of an advantage running for office in Massachusetts!

My friend has coined a phrase for this phenomenon, saying that a
female candidate being examined through an unconsciously sexist lens is
being "Hillaried." During the Democratic primary, women watched in
amazement that morphed into disgust, as Hillary Clinton was subtly and not
so subtly bashed relentlessly by the media for the sin of being female. The
worst kind of female: an ambitious one. It wasn't just the disgusting
primitive media stuff - the nutcracker, the cleavage, the tears - but the
more subtle bashing that many of us believe brought her down unfairly. And
we can see that its already happening to Martha.

And here's the worst thing about both articles: Both writers should
be taking the view that "Eureka!" we finally have a woman who can become a
senator in Massachusetts. It's about time and God bless her. She can put
an end to the embarrassment of being a state that has never had a female
Senator. Why aren't we down on our knees saying, "Thank you Martha, and how
can we help?"

The US ranks about 70th in the world in terms of female
representation in its central government. The Senate has a paltry 17%
women. How embarrassing is that? And how can we help change the world and
make it better if we can't be leaders in this area? As Nicholas Kristof has
brilliantly written in the NYTimes - women's rights are the human rights
issue of our time. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has brilliantly
declared, women's equality worldwide is the answer to many of the world's
most serious problems. How can we not be begging Martha Coakley to run,
showering her with money, and saying, "Thank you Martha for helping the US
be a leader in equal rights in the 21st century!"

Joseph Cao: "Future Of GOP" Voted To Rebuke Wilson

2009-09-16T16:52:40Z

Joseph Cao was hailed six months ago as the future of the GOP. Yesterday, he voted to rebuke Joe Wilson. Can the most endangered Republican in the House survive?

As he made his way to the podium to give his health-care speech last Wednesday--a speech that would draw boos from Republican lawmakers, trigger Joe Wilson's now-notorious outburst, and eventually be likened to Nazism by angry protesters--President Obama was able to find at least one friendly Republican face in the crowd. "I love this guy!" Obama announced to Republicans gathered nearby as he shook hands with Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA).

Sotomayor Dances (Well!) At Noche Musical Celebration (VIDEO, POLL)

2009-09-16T14:47:59Z

*SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO*

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who danced and sang karaoke last week, showed off some fancy footwork at last night's National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts' "Noche Musical." Watch as Sonia boogies with her dancing partner, actor Esai Morales. There's a few mambo steps, some spins, a short hustle, and a bunch of clapping and snapping. Now, that's what we call getting jiggy with it, justice-style.

Read more about the event at WashingtonLife.com.

WATCH:

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Stephanie Green: Justice Ginsburg's Advice to Sonia? Shop in Europe!

2009-09-14T12:35:19Z

I had a rare opportunity to chat up Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg this past Saturday night at the Kennedy Center for the Washington National Opera's Season Opener.
Justice Ginsburg, with an almost maternal glow in her eyes, told me how "touching" it was to see Justice Sotomayor's mother at the swearing in ceremony last week.
Although Justice Ginsburg gave her new friend on the Court a traditional white collar worn by female justices, she explained that Justice Sotomayor is going to have to go across the pond to do her robe shopping.
"The robes we wear are not made for women, and you can't find them in the United States, so Sonia asked me where I got mine. I told her I had mine made in Paris, and she could also find one in London, " she intimated.
For more, read complete column.
www.washingtontimes.com/greenandglover

Stevens' Clerks Believe He Will Retire Next Spring

2009-09-14T10:47:14Z

Less than two weeks ago, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens made news in a typically elliptical court way. He announced that he had hired only one -- as opposed to the full complement of four -- clerks for next year. Reporters and bloggers (not always the same thing) speculated that Stevens, who is approaching 90 years old and who has been on the court since 1975, will retire at the end of the court's spring term. But let me replace the speculation with something a little firmer. Though there are no sure things in life or judging, Stevens' legion of former clerks are convinced that he will in fact retire late next spring. Stevens is known as particularly punctual and exacting about lining up new clerks early in the year. The fact that he did not do so is a certain indiction that he will step down, one of his former clerks told me this week. "There is NO WAY he would go into next year without the full group," said this clerk, who spoke on background out of respect for court tradition and the behind-the-scenes role of clerks. Another former clerk, speaking on the same condition, agreed. "He's still vigorous and I think he wants to leave the court that way," this clerk told me.

Poisonous Atmosphere Keeping Obama From Appointing Judges

2009-09-14T09:49:03Z

The Obama Administration wanted to send a message with the President's first nomination to a federal court. "There was a real conscious decision to use that first appointment to say, 'This is a new way of doing things. This is a post-partisan choice,' " one White House official involved in the process told me. "Our strategy was to show that our judges could get Republican support." So on March 17th President Obama nominated David Hamilton, the chief federal district-court judge in Indianapolis, to the Seventh Circuit court of appeals. Hamilton had been vetted with care. After fifteen years of service on the trial bench, he had won the highest rating from the American Bar Association; Richard Lugar, the senior senator from Indiana and a leading Republican, was supportive; and Hamilton's status as a nephew of Lee Hamilton, a well-respected former local congressman, gave him deep connections. The hope was that Hamilton's appointment would begin a profound and rapid change in the confirmation process and in the federal judiciary itself.

McCain Calls Out Chief Justice Roberts Over Campaign Finance Case

2009-09-10T14:20:11Z

Yesterday marked the first case in front of newly-minted Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and the Court spared no controversy. The case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, gives the Court a stab at overturning two decisions (Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce and McConnell v. FEC) which have upheld the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law of 2003.