I don't know very much about this nominee. Nobody really does. Her biography is now well known, however, which isn't the same thing as knowing her. I do wish, however, that President Obama could find a nominee for a major post who didn't go to Harvard or Yale. Seriously. I know he values his Ivy League education as a symbol of meritocratic worth, and that makes sense for his generation and experience, but I feel like it is really overdone with him. Those schools produced a lot of mediocre people too. Like his predecessor.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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She has voted 95% of the time, with the conservative side of the respective arguments, she was a corporate lawyer and she wrote the dissenting view on the TWA crash off of Long Island in '97. She said the families of the passengers of the flight had no right to sue for more awards because it went down in international waters and cited the other two justices who ruled in favor of the families, as making legislative policy, something the courts should not do.
I think she is a moderate, her rulings seem to lean on the side of common sense and follow the letter of the law, at least that is what I can distill from reports I am gathering. I guess if you bring a case up to her for a ruling, don't count on her and don't count her out.
As long as she is not to the right of where Souter was there will be no change to the overall distribution of judicial preferences.
But the "X" factor will be how persuasive she is. If she is really articulate she may end up having a big impact.
I hear that the wingnuts among the Republicans have been trying to keep her from the federal bench her entire career because they were afraid she'd get just this kind of appointment.
Well she certainly isn't visionary and none of her opinions are widely cited. On face value, I'd say she is more like Breyer. I don't know why even the wingnut Repubs are so afraid of her...she has been moderate, leaning conservative...even on abortion. I would say she is rigid, and that can cut either way, so I see it as a very different court, she is to the right of Souter I think.
To LTG's point about the schools. It is getting a bit old hat...all opf these folks seem to be from Harvard, Stanford or Yale...I think they are all private institutions. I think Obama wanted to move away from "group think"...seems we are inundated with 'group taught' legal minds for the Supreme Court. What state supported schools have outstanding law programs?
5 is the number of known conservatives on the supreme court.
5 is the winning number.
Until there are a total of 3 moderate or even, horrors, liberals nominated for the SCOTUS, any, repeat, any nomination and fight is a total, repeat, total waste of time.
Defund the supreme court, defund the us attorneys, accept all of the bushco gang's resignations and let it rot. When you have 95 per cent of all decisions against the citizens you do not have a justice system you have one huge sack of shiteating rats and you need to beat them to death. Oh, but, this is SCOTUS. No this is a stinking bag of anti democracy thugs.
Stop playing great political thinker and all of the games and the other amusing crap and stomp this shit to death. There is NO SCOTUS. Starve it to death.
SCOTUS would be a disgrace to any civilized nation. This is a national disgrace, there is no argument possible, it is a stinking disgrace.
Anyone who thinks this nomination is a waste of time is not thinking clearly. Supreme Court justices, cases, and decisions are not purely yes/no or black/white but fall along a rich spectrum. Replacing a quiet, moderate Souter with a louder, more liberal Sotomayor will make the balance less conservative. That will be a victory.
For all its failings, the Supreme Court is a worthy institution. At the very least one must admit it has been less corrupted than the other branches of government. The Supreme Court has been a guardian of liberty in a thousand ways--even denying the Bush administration quite a number of their excesses.
I could not disagree more with the previous commenter. In the real world, where the powerful have few checks upon their power, the Supreme Court has occasionally provided the "safe place" Justice Souter wished it to be. That is a blessing, and we should all be proud of it.
Dr. S. is right. If even if Sotomayor a dynamic and energetic moderate she could pull the center of gravity in the Court a little to the left of where it is now.
Of course if one of the 5 conservative justices were to fall ill or die unexpectedly, it would give Obama a chance to really alter the nature of the Court for a very long time!
For now, just consider what would have been going on right now if John McCain were making this appointment.
One thing that someone said on NPR yesterday, a man who knew Sotomayor personally pointed out that she negotuiates like a man. She is upfront and strong and that some in the judical community don't like it when a woman is like that. So she has gotten a rap for being tough and stubborn and sometimes rude. But then, someone else pointed out that she is from New York, after all!
RBR says "the "X" factor will be how persuasive she is."
This is absolutely true. It is not just whether she is persuasive with Kennedy - it is whether she can articulate a better argument for denying or granting cert in various cases.
what does this have to do with breath mints?
Haw haw haw...
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