Wednesday, July 08, 2009

What are your thoughts on the Sotomayor confirmation hearings?

(...did you notice that today is 07...08...09?)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/07/AR2009070701605.html?sub=AR

Sotomayor critics step up rhetoric before hearing

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS The Associated Press Wednesday, July 8, 2009; 12:34 AM
WASHINGTON -- Conservatives stepped up their criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday, but it was unclear how far Senate Republicans were willing to go to create bumps in what appears to be a smooth road to confirmation for President Barack Obama's first high-court choice.

Even as the Senate's top Republican suggested that Sotomayor let racial bias cloud her rulings, he and other GOP senators refused to say whether they would accede to conservative activists' demands to try to delay a final vote to confirm her until September. At the same time, the National Rifle Association raised what it called "very serious concerns" about Sotomayor based on her stance on weapons rights, yet it stopped short of opposing her, citing its "respect for the confirmation process."

The fresh critiques of Sotomayor came as the American Bar Association, a national lawyers' group, rated her "well-qualified" to be a justice after its members conducted scores of confidential interviews with her colleagues and pored through her record and writings to assess her integrity, qualifications and temperament.

Democrats and civil rights leaders rushed to defend Sotomayor against charges that she's an activist who would allow racial bias to interfere with her decisions.

The White House gave senators a lengthy briefing book on Sotomayor that highlights key rulings in areas including criminal law, freedom of speech and religion, women's issues, gun and property rights, and immigration.

The 129-page document describes the judge in glowing terms, repeating often that she shows judicial restraint and is a moderate. It says she has a "record of judicial excellence and, for each case that comes before her, has narrowly applied the law to the facts of the case."

The Senate Judiciary Committee is to open hearings Monday on Sotomayor's nomination to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. If confirmed, she would be the first Hispanic to serve there.
(this article continues at the link above)

7 comments:

mlowe1191 said...

Just wanted to say thanks. I got a 4 on my exam!

Addie said...

Thanks for everything, Mr. Bretzmann :)
I got a 3! I'll keep in touch!

JakeK said...

Hey everybody! I am happy to say that I got a 4. not the 5 I was hoping for but ill take it. Mr. Bretzmann, I know we briefly discussed the idea last year, but what would auditing the class this coming year entail? I was hoping I could get another year of pogo in before I graduate.

JakeK said...

Where's the health care blog?!?!?!?!

aprichard said...

Although this is far from present news, and Sotomajor has now been serving in the Supreme Court since 2001, I believe that the racism she was charged with was just a reverse-racism counter arguement put on by those who opposed her to keep her out of holding a higher political position. When I researche Sotomayor's "racist comments" the individual sentence that seemed to cause most of the problems was when Sotomayor said,“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life”. Sotomayor is a latina woman, a minority in U.S politics. She has been a federal judge since 1991. Since she can not be pegged with lack of experiece, her aggressors tried to terminate her election through racism. In my opinion, this is not a racist statement. Sotomayer is different than majority of all other Supreme Court leaders, and with that she will also have different views. Though that was a oblivious statement, it is also necessary to say that she has to be confident of herself in a W.A.S.P dominated government. I do not believe that the statement was said as an act of racism, but that it was purely Sotomayer saying that she would benefit the Court through her diverse views.

MKlinka said...

I feel that the Republicans in the senate are, well, being childish. They're losing ground and they don't want sotomayor in power, that's fine, but they use excuses as a way to attempt to keep her out of office. Of course, I can't condone what Sotomayor has done either, and I feel that she needs to learn to think before she speaks a little bit. But in all, it seems a large fuss about nothing.

rlepak said...

I think it is great that a Latin American woman has been appointed to the supreme court. It shows just how far our country has come since the Civil Rights. However, I'm not sure how well she will work on the supreme court. She is liberal, and I think the court will now have more trouble the determining outcomes of cases and reaching a compromise.