Meet Judge Sotomayor
And all together now, it’s pronounced “so-toe-my-YORE.”By Christy Harvey, Mic Check Radio
May 26, 2009
(AP/Alex Brandon)
Know Five Things
1. How quickly should this happen?
- From SCOTUS Blog: “Over the past 30 years, the average duration between nomination and confirmation has been 72 days.” [SCOTUS blog]
- Justice Ginsburg was confirmed only 50 days after her nomination by President Clinton.
- Justice Roberts was confirmed 72 days after his nomination. [The Atlantic]
2. Right-Wing Talking Point: She’s an activist judge.
- An unnamed right-wing group sent around a memo “on background” charging Sotomayor’s “decisions demonstrate a tendency to achieve the philosophical result she desires and agrees with, as opposed to a neutral application of the law. Judge Sotomayor also appears willing to expand constitutional rights, even if those rights do not appear within the text of the Constitution.” [Politico]
- “At her Senate confirmation hearing more than a decade ago, she said, “I don’t believe we should bend the Constitution under any circumstance. It says what it says. We should do honor to it.” [AP]
- From the New York Times: “ Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s judicial opinions are marked by diligence, depth and unflashy competence. If they are not always a pleasure to read, they are usually models of modern judicial craftsmanship, which prizes careful attention to the facts in the record and a methodical application of layers of legal principles.” [NYT]
3. Right-Wing Talking Point: She’s not smart enough.
- Karl Rove questioned whether she was smart enough to be on the Supreme Court. “I’m not really certain how intellectually strong she would be, she has not been very strong on the second circuit.” [Washington Monthly]
- “Sotomayor’s record on the bench, at first glance, appears undistinguished. She will not bring to the table the firepower that many liberal academics are asking for.” John Yoo, former Justice Department lawyer who wrote the torture memos. [TownHall]
- Judge Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton.
- Judge Sotomayor was a co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. [Daily Princetonian]
- Judge Sotomayor went to Yale Law School, where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order. [NYTimes]
4. Right-Wing Talking Point: She’s a radical liberal.
- Sen. Orrin Hatch: “She is extremely liberal, no question about it.” [St. Louis Trib]
- “She has an extremely high rate of her decisions being reversed, indicating that she is far more of a liberal activist than even the current liberal activist Supreme Court.” _ Wendy Long, counsel to the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network. [TownHall]
- “Known as a moderate on the court, Sotomayor often forges consensus and agreeing with her more conservative nominees far more frequently than she disagrees with them. In cases where Sotomayor and at least one judge appointed by a Republican president were on the three-judge panel, Sotomayor and the Republican appointee(s) agreed on the outcome 95% of the time.” [WH Talking Points]
- “As a judge, she has a bipartisan pedigree. She was first appointed by a Republican, President George H.W. Bush, then named an appeals judge by President Bill Clinton in 1997.” [AP]
- Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this week said “I have no questions in my mind about her qualifications in terms of education, experience. A president is not required to nominate the most qualified person to the court. I think he’s obliged to nominate someone who is well-qualified, and I think by any measures, she is well-qualified.”
- Sen. Jesse Helms voted to confirm her to the federal bench in 1998. (So, we should add, did Sen. Orrin Hatch.) [Senate]
5. Right-Wing Talking Point: This is a great chance to rally the anti-abortion crowd.
- Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, called Sotomayor “a radical pick that divides America.”
- Sotomayor has not been part of any major rulings on abortion rights.
- “In 2002, she wrote an opinion ruling against an abortion rights group that had challenged a government policy prohibiting foreign organizations receiving U.S. funds from performing or supporting abortions. In her opinion on the so-called gag rule, Sotomayor wrote that the government was free to favor the anti-abortion position when public funds were involved.” [AP]
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Comments
Here are some more interesting facts about Sotomayor, as well as a good way to remember how to spell her name!
http://klogtheblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/supreme-facts-on-sotomayor.html
— Dan - May 27, 11:55 AM - #