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May 26, 2009

About the Sotomayor pick

Topics: Political News and commentaries
Like Eugene Volokh, I am not yet sure what position to take on President Obama's selection of Sonia Sotomayor, but my general sense is that she is indeed very liberal, to the extreme:

[...] and thus likely to take what I consider to be mistaken positions on many major constitutional law issues. I am also not favorably impressed with her notorious statement 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." Not only is it objectionable in and of itself, it also suggests that Sotomayor is a committed believer in the identity politics school of left-wing thought. Worse, it implies that she believes that it is legitimate for judges to base decisions in part based on their ethnic or racial origins. Stuart Taylor's comments on Sotomayor's speech are telling: (More)

To which I'd add there's the not-so-little matter of her highly controversial stated view that policy is made at the bench, in other words - policy is made by the judiciary, not made by the legislature (judges make law, not the constitution): Court is Where Policy is Made


And then this from the Cato Institute release:

In picking Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama has confirmed that identity politics matter to him more than merit. Judge Sotomayor is not one of the leading lights of the federal judiciary and would not even have been on the shortlist if she were not Hispanic. She has a mixed reputation, with a questionable temperament and no particularly important opinions in over 10 years on the Second Circuit. Most notably, she was part of the panel that summarily affirmed the dismissal of Ricci v. DeStefano, where the City of New Haven denied firefighter promotions based on an admittedly race-neutral exam whose results did not yield the "correct" racial mix of successful candidates. Sotomayor's colleague Jose Cabranes--a liberal Democrat--excoriated the panel's actions and the Supreme Court will likely reverse the ruling next month. If this is the kind of "empathy" the president wants from his judges, we are in for a long summer--and more bitter confirmation battles in the future.

As Senator Ben Nelson (D) points out, we don't need an activist judge.

In other words, I may not yet be sure what position to take on President Obama's selection of Sonia Sotomayor, but facts and common sense are pointing me toward the negative side. As for her chances, with the Democrats firmly in control, she's got a stacked deck in her favor.

Update: Criticism of Sotomayor from, of all places, The New Republic.

And the Huck nails it:

Sotomayor comes from the far left and will likely leave us with something akin to the "Extreme Court" that could mark a major shift. The notion that appellate court decisions are to be interpreted by the "feelings" of the judge is a direct affront of the basic premise of our judicial system that is supposed to apply the law without personal emotion. If she is confirmed, then we need to take the blindfold off Lady Justice.

Related:
Vanguard America (...perhaps what's most striking is that on the issue of diversity, Obama seems to have the views of a 21-year-old Hispanic girl -- that is, only by having a black president, an Hispanic justice, a female secretary of State, and Bozo the Clown as vice president will the United States become a true "vanguard of societal ideas and changes.")
Identity Politics And Sotomayor (The judge's thinking is representative of the Democratic Party's powerful identity-politics wing.)

Posted by Richard at May 26, 2009 10:26 AM

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