The pick for the newest Supreme Court Justice is in, and guess what, she’s an ultra liberal judicial activist. That came out of left field, didn’t it? Judge Sonia Sotomayor has the kind of background that is inspiring and is the ultimate American Dream. Raised in a single parent home, through hard work, study, and dedication, she went to and excelled in some of the Country’s finest institutions. She went to work. She developed an excellent resume’ of appropriate work for a talented attorney. She was nominated to the bench by 41, then moved to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals by Clinton.
Sounds like the ideal candidate, right? Then something went wrong. For some reason, the path she took to success is not the one that she believes everyone should, or is even capable of accomplishing. That American dream is realized through hard work and discipline. It would seem to me that someone with her background would encourage people to work hard for success, not have some judge dictate that they should be successful to the detriment of others.
Unfortunately, Judge Sotomayor has shown she is a judicial activist. She practices “Restorative Justice”. This is a belief that the person needs to be restored to some level that the judge feels is appropriate. (Thanks to Bobby F. for the academic lesson on judicial activism.) If you want to be an advocate, don’t be a judge. There are thousands of people that need the assistance of good lawyers to plead their cases. Many are truly wronged, and our system of laws was created to provide due process. Judges interpret the law, not produce it.
As I stated in my previous post, the socialist President would not make a mistake on his nominee. He gave us the most liberal of the short list of candidates we were privy to. I hope that this is a ploy to make us revolt against this candidate and then he will nominate a more moderate Judge. Like the Bork nomination. Put forth the most objectionable candidate first, then when that doesn’t work, make the next one tougher for the Senate to reject, since they already rejected one.
The Republicans should filibuster this candidate. Anyone who believes her gender or ethnic heritage will be useful in deciding cases does not understand that judges interpret the law. Here is a quote from Judge Sotomayor: ”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.” What!?!? Is she serious? Shouldn’t we have judges that actually make decisions based on the law?
I also found another stat very interesting. Judge Sotomayor has had 6 cases she has ruled on go to the Supreme Court. In five of the cases her position was overturned, and in the 6th, the court came to the same conclusion as her but stated her reasoning for making the decision was wrong. SHE IS 0-6! I have the same number of wins in the Supreme Court as she does!
America does not need this radical in the highest court in the land. This is just another example of the horrible decision the citizens made by electing our socialist President.
Legal scholars that I have heard and read seem to agree that Sotomayor’s record suggests similarities between her and Souter, the guy that she’s replacing. Thomas Goldstein, a Washington-based Supreme Court lawyer, said that both Sotomayor and Souter “seem to fit smack dab in the center-left.”
However, wingnut groups have already begun distorting Sotomayor’s record. Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network admitted that the conservative case against Sotomayor rests on a single out-of-context quote taken from a YouTube video. Motivated in no small part by a desire to stir their donors to pour money into right-wing coffers, conservatives have questioned Sotomayor’s intellect, despite the fact that she graduated at the top of her class from Princeton University. They have accused her of “judicial activism,” despite being unable to cite a single case where she ignored the law. They have also attacked her for refusing to twist the law in order to benefit white people. Indeed, right-wing attacks on Judge Sotomayor has been so strident and unhinged that even the RNC refuses to risk “political peril” by joining their smear campaign. According to talking points leaked to the media, the RNC claims that it “will reserve judgment” on Sotomayor “until more is known” about her judicial record.
Thinkprogress.org? It always amuses me that the self-proclaimed “progressives” have come up with a name they believe signifies moving toward a better place or ideology in this Country because they do not like the label “liberal”. Being a “progressive” certainly does not mean enlightened, as many in the liberal left would have us believe. “Progressives” are not what made this Country great, although they are sure trying to change the history books to teach the kids that’s what happened.
I did not mention the fact that many believe she is not a deep thinker because I don’t have enough information on that subject. Hanging your hat on the fact that she graduated in the top of her class at Princeton is an extremely weak argument. Many people have graduated from college that just remembered facts for tests. We will have to wait and let the scholars scour through her decisions. Your second paragraph sounds like typical bashing of conservatives by the liberal media and wacko far left democrat party led by Dingy Reid and that idiot speaker from California. Did you get that off the moveon.org website? Your party has been hijacked by extremists. Hopefully we can turn that around in 4 years.
MY party has been hijacked by extremists??? Your party was hijacked by extremists in 1980. Maybe it can find its way back in 4 years.
The republican party has gotten away from conservatism. We nominated McCain for goodness sake. He is no conservative. So the left’s rantings that the conservatives have gone way right is laughable. We elected a socialist president because we did not put forward a conservative candidate. We let the liberal media have say over who we put forward. “McCain is a uniter, etc.” Him and his gang of 14 making backroom deals. He should be thrown out of the party for his “reaching across the aisle” in the past. I’m backing Newt in 2012!!!!
Gentlemen, the fact of the matter is that Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed with little trouble. WE will not filibuster this nominee. Her vote will not change the makeup of the court. Although I fear that this president is not done with nominations to the court, I pray for the health and long life of the ones (Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Scalia, Thomas, Alito and yes even Kennedy) who hold this country in their hands.
It will also please me to see Justice Alito move one seat over to make room for the woman to be the doorkeeper at conference. I also cant wait to see her opinions be dismantled by Roberts and Scalia. You cant pay for that kind of entertainment.
Steve is really good at parroting the right-wing spin doctors. See below:
RADICAL RIGHT — ROVE ATTACKS SOTOMAYOR, CALLS HER A ‘SCHOOLMARM,’ SAYS SHE’S ‘NOT NECESSARILY’ SMART: During a debate at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Wednesday, host Charlie Rose said Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor “is very smart.” “Not necessarily,” former Bush adviser Karl Rove replied. After Rose noted that Sotomayor graduated with honors from Princeton and attended Yale Law School, Rove said, “I know lots of stupid people who went to Ivy League schools.” Rove’s claim is ironic considering that in an interview previewing the debate, he cited President Bush’s experience at Harvard and Yale to mock claims that Bush is stupid. “The myth was that this guy, who was a Yale history grad and a Harvard MBA, was not smart,” Rove told the Chicago Tribune. And on Fox News Wednesday, Rove offered another demeaning and subtly-sexist putdown of Sotomayor. Rove complained to host Greta Van Susteren that Sotomayor pays too much attention to grammar and claimed that she’s “sort of a schoolmarm.” “I was talking to people about the Second court of appeals. …What she would do is she would mark them up like she was your English school teacher and — with your typos and misspellings and other words that she wanted to have changed and send it back to her colleagues. Not exactly the best way to ingratiate yourself with your colleagues,” Rove said.
Where do you get the parroting? Rove made this valid and well thought out point on Wednesday. I wrote my comments prior to this taking place. Are you suggesting that Karl Rove is copying my blog and putting it out as “the right wing spin”? Wow, that would be great!! I am extremely happy that Rove and I are thinking the same way!!! What a great day! I knew this blog was a good idea.
Arguing with Steve is like arguing with a mule. All it does is frustrate the mule and piss you off. If you want to know how I feel about your blog check out:
LOL, I think I just saw you tap out.
The sad thing is that you think that means you won. Instead, what it means is that the dialog is over. That’s how this country became so polarized – and that’s not a good thing, regardless of what Goldwater meant when he said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Did you just use a Goldwater quote that agrees with my position to take the opposite position? It’s not over, and there is no winner or loser. Neither of us will ever change to the other side. I’m sure there will be many more discussions over future posts. Wait till she gets confirmed!
This is like having a doctor that has had only 6 operations where they all died. The review board says all 6 deaths were the fault of the doctor. So the head of the hospital adds the doctor to the review board.
The American dream might become the American nightmare.
Yes we need CHANGE! After all America has only been the most successful country for the past couple of hundred years and it is time for someone else to have their chance. Share the wealth, yours and mine.