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Thread: Sonia Sotomayor

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    Senior Member Michelle Chanel's Avatar
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    Default Sonia Sotomayor

    What do you yall think about Sonia Sotomayor? Do you think Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama is being sexism towards her? http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/...ing/index.html

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090713/...tomayor_senate

    This is an accomplishment for anybody of color (like me since I'm half Hispanic & half White) and for Women (if confirmed she will be the 3rd women to serve the Supreme Court) all over the world. In 1998, Judge Sotomayor became the first Latina to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, one of the most demanding circuits in the country. If confirmed for the Supreme Court, Judge Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed for the Court in the past 70 years.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Being hispanic i don't consider the good things other hispanics do to be my accomplishments anymore that i consider the bad things they do to be my failures. That said i hope she does well on her own merits, from what i've read about her she seems to be more than adequately qualified for the position and she will certainly do a great job if confirmed.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    I had sort of hoped we were beyond judging people by the color of their skin but had moved to judging them by the content of their character.

    Z

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    She's adequate, as circuit court judges go. She's nothing exceptional, except insofar as her race and gender made it unlikely for her to occupy her position in the first place.

    She isn't the best candidate for the job, but no nominee since, arguably, Bork has been. And we all know how Bork turned out.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Like so many other things, I think she was picked because of her race/gender. She may very well have been the most-qualified hispanic female available, but don't fool yourself. Her main qualifications were that she was female and hispanic.
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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Frankly, I think she sucks and that there are better choices out there

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    ^I agree. I personally don't understand why Obama picked her. Im not impressed at all.
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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    In an ideal scenario, the selection of our supreme court justices would be based solely on their ability interpret and apply the Law.

    Unfortunately, there was no greater reality check than to watch how the court's ruling during the 2000 presidential election fell completely along party lines. It was a crystal clear expression that justice is not blind.

    The selection of a supreme court justice is just another aspect of our goverment which has run amok.
    If you can't win. Make the fellow in front of you break the record.


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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Quote Originally Posted by JayATee View Post
    ^I agree. I personally don't understand why Obama picked her. Im not impressed at all.
    Why does she suck?

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    Senior Member Michelle Chanel's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Thank you to everyone who contributed their opinions. I appreciate it a lot. Hope everyone has wonderful weekend!

    xoxo,
    Michelle
    Last edited by Michelle Chanel; 07-17-2009 at 12:14 AM.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    In watching part of the hearings I found that she never really responded to any question with a straight answer. Instead, she seemed to go out of her way to tell everyone why should couldn't/wouldn't respond with specifics. Like the way she tried to talk around Sen. Kyl about the firefighter case. Anyone who is either that unwilling or incapable of providing a direct response to a simple question makes me nervous.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Quote Originally Posted by Lisa G View Post
    In watching part of the hearings I found that she never really responded to any question with a straight answer. Instead, she seemed to go out of her way to tell everyone why should couldn't/wouldn't respond with specifics. Like the way she tried to talk around Sen. Kyl about the firefighter case. Anyone who is either that unwilling or incapable of providing a direct response to a simple question makes me nervous.
    This has been the standard manner in which to answer questions at a SCOTUS confirmation hearing since at least Ginsburg.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Quote Originally Posted by askav View Post
    This has been the standard manner in which to answer questions at a SCOTUS confirmation hearing since at least Ginsburg.
    That is very true ... but it doesn't make it right.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Quote Originally Posted by askav View Post
    Why does she suck?
    I never said she sucked. I said I was unimpressed.
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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Quote Originally Posted by Lisa G View Post
    In watching part of the hearings I found that she never really responded to any question with a straight answer. Instead, she seemed to go out of her way to tell everyone why should couldn't/wouldn't respond with specifics. Like the way she tried to talk around Sen. Kyl about the firefighter case. Anyone who is either that unwilling or incapable of providing a direct response to a simple question makes me nervous.
    To the poster who asked why I said she sucked....Lisa G's post above is something that I agree with. She knows she's a shoe-in for the court so she won't answer any hard questions. Not that I blame her but I don't like that...

    but moreso...that comment she made at a speech back in, like 02...where she essentially said that a Hispanic woman would make a wiser judicial decision than white man...that does not sit right with me at all.

    She's also had a ton of rulings overturned.

    She will make her decisions based largely on race/gender. The firefighter decision that she had overturned is case in point in her judicial decison-making process.

    Plus, I've read that she's just not that well-respected intellectually.

    She was chosen because she's a female hispanic, and this sort of quota-filling for high profile positions is not something that is in the best interests of our country.

    I'd like to see more women and people of color in positions like this, actually...but not in any sort of way that smacks of a quota of sorts.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Hyde View Post
    To the poster who asked why I said she sucked....Lisa G's post above is something that I agree with. She knows she's a shoe-in for the court so she won't answer any hard questions. Not that I blame her but I don't like that...

    but moreso...that comment she made at a speech back in, like 02...where she essentially said that a Hispanic woman would make a wiser judicial decision than white man...that does not sit right with me at all.

    She's also had a ton of rulings overturned.

    She will make her decisions based largely on race/gender. The firefighter decision that she had overturned is case in point in her judicial decison-making process.

    Plus, I've read that she's just not that well-respected intellectually.

    She was chosen because she's a female hispanic, and this sort of quota-filling for high profile positions is not something that is in the best interests of our country.

    I'd like to see more women and people of color in positions like this, actually...but not in any sort of way that smacks of a quota of sorts.
    I agree with every word of this. Also, I think the actual number is 80% of her decisions have been overturned on appeal. That's not a stellar record, certainly not for someone who is well on her way to sitting on the highest court in the country.
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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Quote Originally Posted by verfolgung View Post
    In an ideal scenario, the selection of our supreme court justices would be based solely on their ability interpret and apply the Law.
    Judge Sonia Sotomayor: Court is Where Policy is Made




    It doesn't look good for white men; but we are the last people that it is OK to discriminate against.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Some items:

    (1) For clarity, I am "unimpressed" too. That is to say, I am no more impressed by Sotomayor than I am the typical circuit court judge. Of course, I have immense respect for just about every CoA judge's abilities; Sotomayor is one of just a handful of jurists in America who can do what she does. That there were better "diversity" hires (Diane Wood, Elena Kagan) or better "quality" hires (Sunstein, Posner, Easterbrook, Kozinski, Epstein - okay, this last one is just a fantasy) does not trouble me much. As I said earlier, no one since Bork has been the best person for the job, and Bork was arguable. Sotomayor is no worse a mistake than Roberts or Alito, and certainly is much less of a mistake than Thomas. So I'm qualifiedly unimpressed.

    (2) I don't like that she didn't answer any of the questions, but I didn't like it when Alito did it, or Roberts did it, or Breyer did it, or Ginsburg did it, either. The hearing is a formality. Having worked (albeit doing very low-level stuff) with the WH to help prep Sotomayor for the hearing, I assure you that there is an enormous vetting machinery that includes several pro-bono committees comprised of dozens of top D.C., New York, Chicago, and Bay Area lawyers. It was the job of those people, and their many underlings, to produce reams and reams of documents and reports about every nominee on Obama's shortlist. Much of this information was forwarded to the Judiciary Committee. All that we know of Sotomayor we know from a searching inquiry into her past, both personal and professional.

    For proof that the hearing are nothing more than a dog and pony show, just look to the transcript of the first day of hearings. It is literally nothing other than political jockeying and point scoring. And each question during the hearing itself comes prepackaged with its own hefty preamble. It's a ridiculous farce, and I have no idea why we do it publicly except to help those on the Judiciary Committee further steel their incumbent advantage with their constituencies.

    (3) As to her "overrule" rate, that number reflects the number of cases on which she has been impaneled, but not necessarily the author of the opinion, and the Supreme Court "granted cert." This means that SCOTUS agreed to hear the case. The vast majority of her cases, along with the vast majority of all CoA cases, are denied cert. So the number is up around 80%; the average across all cases granted cert., I think, is 70%. Given how polarized the court has been over the previous two decades, and given that the Rehnquist court granted cert to just that class of cases likely to be overturned by a conservative (in the judicial sense) court, this troubles me not at all. It's likely that most of her overruled cases were done so with a 5-4 or 6-3 or 4-3-2 or 4-2-1-1-1 (or whatever) margin.

    (4) Her decision in Ricci was not obviously wrong. It was a very hard case with challenging facts. And it was recently overruled thanks in very large part to Bush's recent appointees. I won't get into the niceties of the legal standards, but it is no shame to have gotten it wrong there. (Remember that her chief detractors in the SCOTUS opinion were Roberts and Scalia. Does this surprise anyone?)

    (5) To say that Sotomayor is not that well-respected, intellectually, is doggerel. It is only a few on the political right - in the main, those with no familiarity with or training in the law - who don't respect her. She isn't dazzling, she isn't a luminary, and she can't match up to Scalia in terms of raw firepower. But this is a ridiculous standard that only a few people in the country can meet, and one is currently already working in the administration. If you find a credible criticism of her legal understanding - credible meaning the author has a "J.D." or "LL.B." after their name - please direct me to it.

    (6) Her appointment, of course, has everything to do with her race and gender. I have no opinion on this.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    OK I meant that, relatively speaking, she isn't that well-respected intellectually. There are better jurists out there...she's just the most well-respected female Hispanic Democratic judge.

    I am very middle of the road politically...my perfect judge would be Sandra Day O'Connor...so I cringe to post a link from "townhall.com," but here is a Hispanic woman who also thinks that Sotomayor is a poor choice...

    http://townhall.com/columnists/Linda...er_and_justice

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Quote Originally Posted by JayATee View Post
    ^I agree. I personally don't understand why Obama picked her.
    Politics, pure and simple... Hispanics are the largest growing minority group...

    Race plays a major role in politics... Same with gender... and Democrats are specially adept at this... Best example: Obama himself... and Hillary...

    When the Republicans play race and gender politics, they are not quite as adept with it as the Democrats, like McCain's pick of Sarah Pallin, and like when Bush W. tried in 2001 to appoint conservative Hispanic Miguel Estrada to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit (a stepping stone to the Supreme Court)...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada

    The Democrats attacked Estrada's nomination by declaring that he was not a "true" Hispanic, and in fact, that he was "anti-Hispanic". This was pure (albeit evil) genious!... Took all the wind out of their sail... and Estrada never made it... (He could have been the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court had the Democrats not blocked his appointment.)

    If you think about appointments in terms of political strategy instead of candidate merit or qualifications, it all makes more sense...

    The best foreign diplomatic posts are going to Obama's rich supporters and fundraisers...
    http://i.abcnews.com/Blotter/story?id=7698482&page=1

    We need "change"... But, somethings never "change"...
    Last edited by jack0177057; 07-17-2009 at 08:59 AM.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    My personal opinion is that he's not playing to us anymore. And by us I mean Americans. This was a world view decision.
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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Hyde View Post
    OK I meant that, relatively speaking, she isn't that well-respected intellectually. There are better jurists out there...she's just the most well-respected female Hispanic Democratic judge.

    I am very middle of the road politically...my perfect judge would be Sandra Day O'Connor...so I cringe to post a link from "townhall.com," but here is a Hispanic woman who also thinks that Sotomayor is a poor choice...
    I mean, sure. There are plenty of better jurists out there. There always are.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    "Will the REAL Sotomayor please stand up ?'



    (snip)"Somebody should call the Secret Service because clearly there's been a kidnapping of President Obama's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. A person calling herself Judge Sonia Sotomayor has appeared each day this week at the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing and that person looks and sounds exactly like the person who if confirmed will become either the nation's first or second Hispanic member of the high court (Associate Justice Benjamin Cardozo was Jewish, but was of Spanish and Portugese parentage). Judging by her answers, however, the person responding to the barrage of questions from senators was not the person Obama nominated.

    Obama made clear that he nominated Sotomayor because of his belief that federal judges should have empathy for the downtrodden, disadvantaged, and forgotten members of American society. But the person impersonating the president's nominee responded contrarily when asked by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ, about the Obama standard: "I wouldn't approach the issue of judging in the way the president does. He has to explain what he meant by judging. I can only explain what I think judges should do, which is judges can't rely on what's in their heart. They don't determine the law. Congress makes the laws."

    The chief executive has made it clear, too, that he is a member-in-good-standing of the Liberal School of Jurisprudence, which holds that Supreme Court justices should view the Constitution as a "living document" that can be changed over time by federal courts in order to meet evolving societal needs. But when Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-SC, asked the woman impersonating Sotomayor her view on the issue, she responded: "The Constitution is a document that is immutable to the sense that it's lasted 200 years. The Constitution has not changed except by amendment. It is a process, an amendment process that is set forth in the document. It doesn't live other than to be timeless by the expression of what it says."

    Finally, Obama has demonstrated in recent months on his several overseas trips that he places perhaps greater stock in the laws and customs of other nations than he does those of his own. But the impersonator in the confirmation hearing witness chair stunned onlookers by agreeing with the Court's two most conservative members: "I have actually agreed with Justice Scalia and Thomas on the point that one has to be very cautious even in using foreign law with respect to the things American law permits you to. And that's in treaty interpretation or in conflicts of law because it's a different system of law." Either the president is going to have to find himself a new nominee or some senators must decide if they believe what they heard with their own ears."(snip)

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    Quote Originally Posted by askav View Post
    I mean, sure. There are plenty of better jurists out there. There always are.
    You are really parsing here...ok, there are many and MUCH better and MUCH more intellectually accomplished jurists out there.

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    Default Re: Sonia Sotomayor

    A heartflet message to the OP; if you look even slightly like this I agree with whatever you said. No really I do; the Union be damed if ...

    I just wanted to get this thread back to business.

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