SCOTUS appointment thread

[IheartTesla]

L-O-L

BARNES: I think you can make the case that she's one of those who has benefited from affirmative action over the years tremendously.

BENNETT: Yeah, well, maybe so. Did she get into Princeton on affirmative action, one wonders.

BARNES: One wonders.

BENNETT: Summa Cum Laude, I don't think you get on affirmative action. I don't know what her major was, but Summa Cum Laude's a pretty big deal.

BARNES: I guess it is, but you know, there's some schools and maybe Princeton's not one of them, where if you don't get Summa Cum Laude then or some kind of Cum Laude, you then, you're a D+ student.

Say what?

My Latina identity also includes, because of my particularly adventurous taste buds, morcilla, -- pig intestines, patitas de cerdo con garbanzo -- pigs' feet with beans, and la lengua y orejas de cuchifrito, pigs' tongue and ears.

Curt Levey, the executive director of the Committee for Justice, a conservative-leaning advocacy group, said he wasn't certain whether Sotomayor had claimed her palate would color her view of legal facts but he said that President Obama's Supreme Court nominee clearly touts her subjective approach to the law.

Bolton said the source was drawing, "a deductive link," between Sotomayor's thoughts on Puerto Rican food and her other statements. And I guess the chain goes something like this: 1). Sotomayor implied that her Latina identity informs her jurisprudence, 2). She also implied that Puerto Rican cuisine is a crucial part of her Latina identity, 3). Ergo, her gastronomical proclivities will be a non-negligible factor for her when she's considering cases before the Supreme Court.

Can we please get some ADULTS in the FUCKING house? Keep talking, GOP, keep talking.

Edit: Err...I just noticed that the "keep talking" was something I subconciously picked up from the Atlantic blog I got these juicy quotes from. I shall strive to be more creative in the future.

[Annelise]

Can we please get some ADULTS in the FUCKING house?

There are some.

The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has intensified a long-simmering racial divide within the Republican Party.

African-American and Hispanic conservatives who have questioned her judicial philosophy also note the historic nature of the appointment and praise her triumph over economic hardship. White conservatives, on the other hand, have been far more personal and aggressive in their attacks on Sotomayor's record, repeatedly accusing her of "reverse racism" and questioning her intelligence.

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/05/go..._a_bad_idea.php

Cornyn, Gonzales and Steele, at least. Unfortunately, conservatives like Rush, Buchanan and Newt are situated to reach more ears. They're .. louder. And past backdowns by (elected) GOPers have added to their legitimacy.

[lokisnow]

Some questions on the court I never really thought of before.

Is there any supreme court justice who didn't come from the new england famed law schools (Yale, Princeton, Harvard)? what West Coast or Midwest law schools are of a high enough caliber that a candidate would be eligible? Or would any candidate not from those schools be considered unqualified? Will we see a female majority court and a female chief justice in the next fifty years? If Obama were to get to appoint say five justices, should they all be women? What kind of hissy fit would the conservative factions have if every nominee for the next eight years is a woman?

re: reverse racism

I think conservatives that cry out reverse racism just show how little they understand racism. They hear of a few accusations and think that crying racism is like crying wolf: easy and often faked. They see accusations of racism as a 'card' or a weapon, one they would like to use, and we see how they would use it. They can't perceive a legitimate use of it because they would not use it legitimately (and in their use of the reverse racism canard, we see that they do not). So when we see conservatives like Limbaugh yell "REVERSE RACISM" we're seeing a reflection of how he perceives racism and thinks that it is being used against him. It's really showing how little he undderstands it. They don't realize that it's very difficult to stand against the status quo of silence and stoicism and that most racism goes unchallenged, as does most sexual harrassment, and it is usually psychologically exhausting to make such a charge and will in all likelihood affect others' perceptions of you in a variety of immensely complex manners (whether unwelcome excessive sympathy, or an increase in provacative rudeness or the silent treatment) that will take an additional toll of unwelcome stress. Crying reverse racism is crying wolf, there's no substance to it the vast majority of the time.

[Piper]

Some questions on the court I never really thought of before.

Is there any supreme court justice who didn't come from the new england famed law schools (Yale, Princeton, Harvard)? what West Coast or Midwest law schools are of a high enough caliber that a candidate would be eligible? Or would any candidate not from those schools be considered unqualified?

First off, Princeton's in New Jersey, which isn't in New England, and it doesn't have a law school, but has been the undergraduate college of Alito and Sotomeyer. Perhaps you meant "Ivy League" or "east coast?"

Secondly, both Rehnquist and O'Connor were Stanford Law grads, and I don't think you'll get any gripe about other alums from there based on their education. As for Midwest, Justice Stevens is a product of the University of Chicago undergraduate and Northwestern Law, which seem like safe bets.

Anyways, I don't think that going to a non-top 20 law school would preclude a nomination/confirmation if it was clear the person in question was qualified. But it certainly helps, I think, to satisfy the prima facie case of general intelligence. When people hear Harvard or Yale, they think "smart." (Not that smart people can't go to other schools, or that some dumb people haven't gone to Harvard, of course. Its just what the name recognition seems to imply).

[Andriy Czarchenko]

G. Gordon Liddy: Let's hope Sotomayor isn't "menstruating" at key Supreme Court conferences.

:bang: :bang: :bang:

[Guest thebadlady]

WTf!!

"--"is a member of La Raza, which means in illegal alien, 'the race.'""

WTFWTF!!

How does anyone this stupid breathe?

[Security Squish]

Will we see a female majority court and a female chief justice in the next fifty years? If Obama were to get to appoint say five justices, should they all be women? What kind of hissy fit would the conservative factions have if every nominee for the next eight years is a woman?

I honestly believe that if the opening in the court was the chief justice slot then we would be about to have a female chief justice. With Roberts as chief there is very little chance of seeing a female in the spot for a long time because he is so young and healthy. We will not see a female dominated court in the lifetime of any board member though.

[Horus Ex Machina]

If the Libertarian party didn't have a shot before, this is their golden opportunity to be relevent. They can recruit some well-known personalities (maybe Mark Cuban) get their name out there and run 10 strong candidates throughout the midwest and the south perhaps they can gleam the vote of all of the fiscal conservatives who are ready to jump off this sinking ship.

[The_BlauerDragon]

WTf!!

"--"is a member of La Raza, which means in illegal alien, 'the race.'""

WTFWTF!!

How does anyone this stupid breathe?

LOL... Illegal Alien is a class of criminal, not a language... La Raza, IMHO is a racist hate group of the same caliber and quality as the KKK, but the name is Spanish for "The Race", not "Illegal Alien"...

[Annelise]

Newt to (elected) republicans: don't tell me to shut up! She's ... (wait for it) unAmerican!

Newt Gingrich does not seem to be deterred by the new message of the Republican leadership, such as Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), that he and Rush Limbaugh should stop calling Sonia Sotomayor a racist.

Gingrich has now sent out a fundraising e-mail, asking for help to send blast faxes to every member of the Senate demanding that the Sotomayor nomination be defeated. He even says that she shouldn't even get a vote in the Senate, but should just have to withdraw.

Gingrich warns that all of American civilization is at stake here. "If Civil War, suffrage, and Civil Rights are to mean anything, we cannot accept that conclusion," he writes. "It is simply un-American. There is no room on the bench of the United States Supreme Court for this worldview."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05...yor-bashing.php

[IheartTesla]

LOL... Illegal Alien is a class of criminal, not a language... La Raza, IMHO is a racist hate group of the same caliber and quality as the KKK, but the name is Spanish for "The Race", not "Illegal Alien"...

Maybe you should address that to Gordon Liddy, who made that statement. If you can bear to go to a talkingpointsmemo site, that is.

Also, just for your edification, by way of Andrew Sullivan's blog

Many people incorrectly translate our name, “La Raza,†as “the race.†While it is true that one meaning of “raza†in Spanish is indeed “race,†in Spanish, as in English and any other language, words can and do have multiple meanings. As noted in several online dictionaries, “La Raza†means “the people†or “the community.†Translating our name as “the race†is not only inaccurate, it is factually incorrect. “Hispanic†is an ethnicity, not a race. As anyone who has ever met a Dominican American, Mexican American, or Spanish American can attest, Hispanics can be and are members of any and all races.

[lokisnow]

re: female justices, Stevens and maybe Ginsberg will probably both retire before the end of Obama's first term. I think he'll certainly replace Ginsberg with another woman, and I wouldn't be surprised if he puts a third woman on the court as well when Stevens retires. Stevens is 89 and was appointed by Ford! he's been on the bench for nearly 34 years. Now just imagine if Obama has to appoint a fourth justice (say if Kennedy, Breyer, Scalia or Thomas retire probably in that likelyhood of retiring), and Obama decides to put a fourth woman on the court. Oh how the conservatives would howl then. *smirk*

[Horus Ex Machina]

Oh no, then there'll be too many "chicks" on the court. :rolleyes:

[Guest Raidne]

Let's get back to discussing how severely unqualified she is her qualifications.

You didn't say anything about her qualifications.

The fact that she wrote an undergraduate thesis supporting an opinion that was shared by half the federal judges sitting on the bench decades ago, stating a legal opinion that she held before she even went to law school just doesn't tell me anything about her qualification to be a judge.

I really don't get this. OMFG, she wrote a paper about bigotry in American culture. You consider that radical???

Is there any supreme court justice who didn't come from the new england famed law schools (Yale, Princeton, Harvard)? what West Coast or Midwest law schools are of a high enough caliber that a candidate would be eligible? Or would any candidate not from those schools be considered unqualified? Will we see a female majority court and a female chief justice in the next fifty years? If Obama were to get to appoint say five justices, should they all be women? What kind of hissy fit would the conservative factions have if every nominee for the next eight years is a woman?

And yet, they picked the least qualified candidate I've ever seen for a government position because she was a woman. Irony. Well, twice if you count Harriet Myers, but that just doesn't even compare.

At any rate, Justice Scalia says he won't even consider hiring law clerks that aren't from Yale or Harvard. But for most people, I think any of the top 10 law schools would work. The ideal candidate would have clerked for the Court or one of the Court of Appeals right out of law school, and generally, those opportunities are only available to you from a top 10 law school. The law is very hierarchical - you're just not going to get the experience required unless you went to one of those schools, because those doors will already be closed to you.

And, FTR, yes, I would like to see a Court with 4-5 women on it, and would support nominating only women until that happens.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Raidne,

Half the sitting federal judges thought the 2nd amendment explicitly removed any individually held right to bear arms? Given the history surrounding the passage of the bill of rights I have a very difficult time believing the second amendment was ratified in order to take away an individual right.

To be clear, there is absolutely nothing about Judge Sotomayor's thesis that should disqualify her from the Supreme Court. I simply think she was wrong.

[Joanna vander Poele]

To be clear, there is absolutely nothing about Judge Sotomayor's thesis that should disqualify her from the Supreme Court. I simply think she was wrong.

That a Latina who has had certain life experiences would, she hopes, make a better judgment than a white guy who hasn't had them? What's wrong with that?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Joanna,

I think her undergraduate thesis about the second amendment is wrong. That's all I ment by that statement. From everything I've read and heard she's very well qualified to take a seat on the Supreme Court.

[sologdin]

is very well qualified the new very articulate?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Sologdin,

What?

[sologdin]

just fucking with you, scot. nm.