Sotomayor Should Be Confirmed
I know…many of you out there will be furious at me. But listen to my argument first.
Sonia Sotomayor is a liberal, in the line of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. I don’t think she is a racist, but I do think she comes from the classical left wing view that ethnicity has much to do with how you do your job…which is idiotic, but whatever. She is a relatively activist judge, but by no means the worst on district courts around the country. She clearly, along with other colleagues, screwed up the Ricci case. All nine justices on the Supreme Court agreed with that.
For liberals, all that matters is she is smart (which you can’t argue), has the resume, and heck, she is Latino…which unfortunately for them is the most important part of her biography. But, again, whatever. Her resume fits the bill for the Supreme Court, regardless.
Sotomayor went into the question and answer segment of her confirmation hearings today. She defenden her decision in Ricci, saying SCOTUS changed the interpretation of the law. Of course, all nine justices stated that she and the court should have allowed Ricci at least to argue his case in court…Sotomayor didn’t defend that. She has stated that comments about ‘the wise latina’ and that ‘law is made in the district courts’ were taken out of context. But what else could she say? Most surprisingly, she stated that Roe v. Wade (and the associated Casey ruling) was settled law. That will make it much harder for right wing pro-life senators to vote for her…interesting that she took that stand.
All that said, she should be confirmed.
Why?
Because of the Constitution, we don’t pick and choose what issues we support to confirm a judicial nominee. As the Constitution says, we defer to the President as long as the judge is competent. Ms. Sotomayor is many things, many things I don’t like, but she is certainly competent. If we really believe in strict constructionism, we should ask her tough questions, make her defend her previous ill-thought out statements, and ask her to defend her questionable judicial temperment. Sen. Lindsey Graham, far from one of my favorites, really gave Ms. Sotomayor a grilling, as he rightly should have. Graham met his constitutional obligations. But after that, if Sotomayor meets the bar, she deserves to be allowed to move on. Elections have consequences…and one consequence is that Barack Obama won the right to pick the judge of his choosing. Maybe voters that are generally conservative will remember that the next time they head to the ballot box.
Yes, it is unfair that this President is asking for leeway that he himself did not provide many judicial nominees, including the last two Supreme Court justices, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. Miguel Estrada, Bush’s nominee to a circuit court, would not even get support from then Senator Obama to get a vote on the floor of the Senate….hypocrisy at its worst. Barack Obama is clearly a hypocrite when he says that Republicans should confirm her despite her previous statements, some bordering on racism. But that said, Obama’s hypocrisy does not allow we conservatives to be hypocritical as well.
Barring some major disaster (or a murder or something), Sonia Sotomayor deserves to be confirmed to the highest court in the land….for good or ill. I don’t like her judicial background, but the Consitution I believe tells us that unless we think she is incapable of carrying out the duties of a justice of the Supreme Court, she should be confirmed. Those of you that would bar her confirmation should ask yourself, “What would Barack Obama do?”. And once you have the answer, take my advice…go ahead, and do the opposite.
I don’t mean this with any hostility, but if you ever get the desire to leave this country (permanently) then I would be more than happy to pay for your full airfare. I mean this seriously. And if you’ll take some of your socialists friends with you then I would try to assist with their travel costs as well. Please don’t hesitate to take me up on this offer!
No time soon. Look, I don’t like Sotomayor. I wouldn’t consider her on a top 100 list for SCOTUS. That said…I thought it was unfair when Obama and his cohorts didn’t allow Bush nominate judges that he wished, and prohibited them from coming up to a vote. It would be hypocritical to now do the exact same thing for Sotomayor. She will probably be a terrible judge. But Obama won the election…and elections means something. As does the constitution.
NOT!!!!
No way.
She is:
Female
Minority
Racist
Own agenda
Put all those together and it spells out DANGER!
Too sad you liberal/socialist folks don’t see this!
It seems that all you neocons can do is cry and whine. From the replies I’ve read you are the lily WASP who are hell bent in keeping all Americans in the dark ages. You seem to forget who made this country, people from all over the world. You don’t even know the meaning of liberal much less socialist. You hear it from Rush, Fox Noize and other hate radio. Shame on you for calling yourselves Americans…. Bottom line, your afraid of a powerful woman, especially a Hispanic.
Cliff, from his own words, is:
Sexist
Bigoted
Racist
Does not know what the word “agenda” means
Reactionary/right-wing idealogue
By the way, she will get approved by the Senate by at least 68/32-get over it Cliff, you lost the election and the good guys won!!
It just occur to me that her statement of “Wise Latino” means, a smart ass Peurto Rican. And that’s what she is. And neovatara as far as the constitution means, also it does mean that to be an American native born, is to be born in any states of your choice from two American citizens. In Obama’s case one parent was America, the other was Kenyan. Therefore it does’nt qualify him to be President, neither to make any choices of appointment, especially to the supreme court. That said, I wonder what her reaction would be when and if the case that is pending disputing the legitamcy of Obama’s citizenship get to her desk at the supreme court.
What the heck are you talking about? Americans, of all different stripes, made this country. I don’t care that Sotomayor is a woman or a latino. I care about her intellect, which I think is middling but enough to be on the court. And that is why I think she should be confirmed. It is you, who ONLY are voting for her because of her race, sir, that is a racist.
I don’t know about the good guys…but I always applaud when the Constitution wins.
The citizenship thing is stupid…on Obama’s part. Why doesn’t he just put his birth certificate out there and end this stupid argument? It is strange, I will agree with you on that.