Posts Tagged ‘Sonia Sotomayor’

And welcome to the Supreme Court. She was confirmed 68-31, and Thune, true to his word, was one of the 31.

I got this press release from the Sens office yesterday and I thought I would share with you all on why the Senator is not voting for Sotomayor.  I now stand behind his decision. 

The following what you will read is directly from the senator:

July 20th, 2009 – Washington, D.C. – Senator John Thune today announced he would vote against Supreme Court Nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor and released the following statement:

“Judge Sotomayor has a compelling personal story and I appreciate her meeting with me. I carefully followed last week’s Judiciary Committee hearings as members questioned Judge Sotomayor on her judicial philosophy and her record of decisions from her time on the bench. After this review I have concluded that Judge Sotomayor has consistently advanced a narrow view of the Second Amendment, providing little reasoning or explanation for her decisions, and twice has ruled that the Second Amendment is not a `fundamental right.’ This is an important distinction because the Supreme Court has made this determination a key element in deciding whether to apply parts of the Bill of Rights, such as the Second Amendment, to state and local governments.

“Judge Sotomayor has also had seven of her 10 decisions reviewed by the Supreme Court overturned, including, most recently, Ricci v. DeStefano. In this case, a three person panel dismissed a reverse discrimination claim of 18 New Haven, CT firefighters who were denied promotion because too few minorities passed a promotion exam. The panel published an unusually short and unsigned opinion that adopted the lower court’s ruling without adding any original analysis. Judicial and legal experts have noted this disturbing trend of avoiding or casually dismissing difficult and important constitutional issues in her rulings. The Supreme Court should not be the first time a judge tackles these difficult decisions.

“I am also concerned that Judge Sotomayor has a record of bringing her personal views into her decision making philosophy rather than deciding cases based on precedent and fidelity to the law. Her statements during the confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee do not always match the philosophies she has expressed prior to this hearing, such as her application of foreign law.

“I take the Senate’s role of advise and consent very seriously. I believe that it is the Senate’s constitutional duty to thoroughly review all nominees to the federal bench, especially those who will have a lifetime appointment to the highest court.”

Judge Sotomayor’s nomination is expected to be considered by the full Senate during the first part of August.

Glenn Beck was upset about the soft questioning of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. But the questioning has not yet begun. There has only been opening statements. That’s right, opening statements. Isn’t there someone on that show with access to google or something? It’s difficult to see how no one there wasn’t like, “Um, Glenn, there hasn’t been any questions yet.”

You will notice none of the clips he shows involve any questions. When they were searching for these clips, didn’t anyone notice a distinct lack of questions? Perhaps that should have raised some flags.

And apparently Lindsey Graham is a worm for stating the obvious.

This may be obvious, and it may make me a worm, but Glenn Beck needs a better research team. Then again, if he researched most of the crap he says he couldn’t say it.

Enjoy an American League drubbing of the National League.

Adam Feser

President Obama has chosen Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court.

She is the daughter of Puerto Ricans, meaning she would be the first Hispanic member of the Supreme Court. Obama cited her story, in addition to her experience and intellect, as a large reason he decided on Sotomayor. She was raised in public housing projects in the Bronx. Her father died when she was young, and her mother worked six-day weeks to send her children to Catholic school. Sotomayor eventually went to Princeton, then Yale Law, where she edited the Yale Law Journal. Her story reminds may remind you of someone else’s story (hint: Barack Obama).

Her nomination may be somewhat contentious, but I can’t imagine it will be too wild. She has made some statements that will provide fodder for Republicans, but it does not appear that she has made many controversial decisions. Her most famous decision contributed to ending the baseball strike in 1995.

There may be enough votes to block a filibuster, and it’s not obvious that Republicans will go after her. Her statements leave her open to attacks, but it could be politically risky to block her nomination. Hispanics are by no means solidly in one party or the other, and there is excitement in the community about having their first representative on the Supreme Court. Attempting to stop this nomination may hurt Senators and the GOP in general.

Though there may be some controversy, even Republicans admit they are not likely to stop this nomination. Unless some unknown story pops up, it is likely that Sonia Sotomayor will be the next Supreme Court Justice.

Enjoy Mauer’s power surge.

Adam Feser