Sotomayor looks like an easy prospect for confirmation. Watch Obama discuss his choice below.
In this week’s address, Barack Obama makes the case for the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor. He discusses both her legal background and her life story. Both are extraordinary, and both are important. Judge Sotomayor has said she is always mindful of the impact her decisions will have in the real world, so her life experience is indeed important. At the same time, she has a record of fairly and narrowly applying the law in her decisions, and she was first appointed to the Federal courts by a Republican.
Look up the story of Miguel Estrada. A Hispanic with an even richer background. And yet, the Democrats filibustered him: http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21NVMooreEstrada303.html
As I recall, the Republicans branded all oppoistion to Mr. Estrada’s confirmation as anti-Hispanic racism.
Will they use the same theme today?
Way to compare apples to lemmings.
Miguel Estrada, nominated to the D.C. Circuit, was filibustered because of his unwillingness to answer Senate Judiciary Committee questions about his record and judicial philosophy on important civil rights issues. He was opposed by a variety of organizations, including the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. The President withdrew his nomination on September 4, 2003, at Estrada’s request.
Estrada did not have anything near the legal experience that Sotomayer has. She has over 17 years on the federal bench alone and over 400 individual rulings in which five were overturned. She has been confirmed before the Senate Judiciary Committee twice and nominated by a Republican and Democratic President and confirmed by a Democratic then a Republican Congress.
Estrada was not an active member of the Hispanic Community in any manner and had very little experience with them. Sure, he had a latino name and was from Honduras, but that’s where it ended. In other words, the point of nominating a latino, was lost on this inexperienced, yet intelligent man.
Alito was a better choice. Who actually did speak on his background as being important:
“ALITO: Senator, I tried to in my opening statement, I tried to provide a little picture of who I am as a human being and how my background and my experiences have shaped me and brought me to this point. … And that’s why I went into that in my opening statement. Because when a case comes before me involving, let’s say, someone who is an immigrant — and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases — I can’t help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn’t that long ago when they were in that position. […]
And that goes down the line. When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.
Wow, sound like a little ‘empathy’ to me.
You Repugs never have, and look like you never will understand minorities in this country, until you become one for a while.
Despite all the bluster either party expends towards SCOTUS nominees, the reality is that it is very difficult to keep a president from getting that person onto the bench. In the last thirty years, who has come the closest to not being voted in (not including those who later withdrew their names) — Clarence Thomas. Unless there is a true proverbial skeleton hiding in Judge Sotomayor’s closet, she will be confirmed by a vote of something like 75 - 25 (assuming Minnesota has two senators by then).
Sotomayor is a slam dunk, unless there is some skeleton in her closet. I doubt there will be, as she has been vetted by (lessor) confirmation processes before.
The fact is that she doesn’t move the court to the left. She probably keeps it where it is, or perhaps could be a smidge more moderate than Souter. The GOP should not fight this one. They should save that political capital for a true game-changer, such as if an existing conservative judge had to step down unexpectedly and Obama tried to replace him with a ultra-lib.
But for the good of our country, the Senate has a job to do and of course they will do it. Given that it took 75-90 days to vet Roberts and Alito, I doubt Obama’s goal of having this done by July will occur.
Oh, and her personal story is nice. But not important.
And I’m a sucker for good personal stories. I love stories of someone realizing the American dream. Absolutely have a soft spot for rags-to-riches stories, especially when the key traits were hard work and determination, as is the case for Sotomayor.
There is another judge who has an incredible personal story, coming from a poor background, little educational opportunity early on, and an unconventional upbringing that one would never guess could produce a Supreme Court Justice. That is Clarence Thomas’ story. I love the story, but it has no impact on how I view Thomas as a judge. Same should go for Sotomayor. Celebrate her story, but confirm her based on her capabilities.
I like the story of the public hair on the coke can. That tells a lot about Thomas.
What part of Thomas’s story do you like best? The sexual harassment? The porn obsession? The lying? Thomas is wretched excuse for a human being and a complete waste of space on the court.
And that kind of partisan attitude is why the next 3 months will be a circus around Sotomayor’s confirmation. Jeez, what a joke. And we wonder why nothing productive happens in DC or St. Paul.
DtM, what your missing here is the forces behind the “circus”. Anita Hill made serious charges of sexual harassment and behavior that were never unproved. She wasn’t searched out. Nobody created the controversy. With Sotomayor, it didn’t matter. The GOP and their talking heads for hire, were all geared up and ready to go before anyone’s name was brought forward. Again, this is another example of the GOP not caring about the welfare of the nation. Sotomayor’s confirmation will go through in a normal time frame with very little news being made in the hearings, but on the non-elected, bloviating, profit motivated, drug addicted, GOP spokespersons side, you’ll hear about Sotomayor straggling yellow Labrador puppies with her Islamic,lesbian, atheist, communist, fiancee. Simply put, the Thomas and Sotomayor confirmation cannot be compared in any honest way.
I have come to respect Thomas and some of his reviews. His book, “My Grandfathers Son”, helped me see him in a different light and understand some of his positions.
However, it appears that Justice Thomas would disagree with you on his background impacting his judicial tenor. He fell back on it, after lying about sexual harassment under Senate inquiry. His background was also KEY in Bush picking him to replace Thurgood Marshall. Thomas had spent his entire professional career as a republican hack. A black man that they could put forth to slow civil rights. Bush appointing him to the Appeals court about one year before Supreme Court was his payoff. Thomas had 1/17 the judicial bench experience that Sotomayor has. Bush appointing him to the Supreme Court was absolutely because he was black AND conservative. In that order.
“And that kind of partisan attitude is why the next 3 months will be a circus around Sotomayor’s confirmation. Jeez, what a joke. And we wonder why nothing productive happens in DC or St. Paul.”
Really, DtM? You’re comparing rampant sexual harassment to a statement about Sotomayor’s heritage?
The reason there will be a circus is that republicans are going to cause one for NO GOOD REASON. There were clearly issues regarding Thomas’ character and personal prudence. No such issues regarding Sotomayor are evident.