On Tuesday, President Obama announced his anticipated nominee to replace the recently retired Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court bench. Soon the Senate will vote on Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who spent six years on New York’s trial court and more than a decade on the Second Circuit. She was raised by a single mother in the South Bronx’s housing projects, grew up with diabetes, and eventually went to Princeton and Yale.
Quite the compelling story, and quite the resume. Oh ya…she’s also Hispanic. On paper, she looks to be quite qualified to sit on the nation’s top Court. But her rhetoric and previous rulings demonstrate that not only is she not fit for the job, but her confirmation will likely have disastrous effects on the future of constitutional law.
The Left is already coming out in favor of her with full and blinding support. Alan Dershowitz claims that Obama’s choice “marks an important step toward a more diverse and representative Supreme Court.” Dylan Loewe at the Huffington Post says this move is also good for Obama politically. Since Hispanics are now the fastest growing demographic of the electorate, Sotomayor will not only be a good “progressive,” but help Obama gain even more Hispanic votes when re-election rolls around.
I’m not surprised that Obama’s choice is filled with language of “empathy,” and that he picked someone who isn’t a “white male,” has darker skin, AND has two x chromosomes! That is just so progressive of him. Erwin Chemerinsky, professor of Law at UC Irvine, is nearly giddy at the feel-goodyness of the prospect of Justice Sotomayor:
“Sotomayor brings to the bench essential diversity. Every justice’s rulings are a product of his or her life experiences. As a woman, a Latina, a person who has faced a life-long serious illness (diabetes), and a person who grew up in modest circumstances, Sotomayor brings experiences that are unrepresented or largely absent from the current court. These certainly will influence her rulings and they also may help in the most important task for a Democratic appointee on the current court: persuading Justice Anthony Kennedy, the key swing justice on almost every closely divided issue. Sotomayor’s background, as well as her intellect and experience, make her ideally suited for this role.”
Am I missing something here? Absent in all this disgusting and pointless talk about “diversity” are the necessary questions that should be asked. How is her constitutional jurisprudence? What do her past decisions tell us? Will she be just another shill for Obama’s wreckless policies, as FDR did trying to pack the court in his favor, and as Justices Roberts and Alito were for George W. Bush?
Let’s take a look. The most infamous incident roaming around the web is a case involving applications for promotion within the New Haven, Connecticut Fire Department. Sotomayor was a member of a judicial panel that objected to tests used to evaluate candidates for promotion when no minorities ranked at the top of the list of those who took the test. Why, the test must be biased! The privileged whites have the advantage, you see, and it is the job of good and noble justices like to her to fix this obvious discrimination; reverse racism at its finest.
I always thought justice was supposed to be neutral and impartial; Lady Justice even wears a blindfold. Sotomayor is the type of judge who should be vehemently opposed by anyone who believes in individual liberty and equality before the law. According to Sotomayor, however, judges need to be like the pigs who run the government in Animal Farm, where everyone is equal, except some or more equal than others. Somewhere George Orwell is laughing (and crying).
Obama’s new pick would be a disaster if she is confirmed, which will likely be the case. All I can say is: Justice Kennedy, Justice Ginsburg…please don’t retire! We might be saved, at least for a few years, from the most radical change in the Supreme Court since Thurgood Marshall and Earl Warren jammed their social-engineering liberalism down our throats.
A Little Rebellion 