No matter what else we say about my college classmate President Barack Obama, he will always be credited with nominating America’s first Latino U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, confirmed by the Senate today, with 68 votes yes, and 31 Republicans voting no and basically circling their wagons (and writing off their own future chances among Latino voters, America’s fastest growing demographic, rather than risk alienating what’s left of their reactionary, racist aging rural and exurban White base.)
Though hardly the “activist judge” or the “scary liberal” (or even “the wise Latina”) she has been pitched as, Judge Sotomayor has been a solid, thoughtful presence on the federal bench here in New York, and we have no doubt she will be a credit to the Supreme Court. At only 54 years of age, we can hope that she will serve to offset the soulless, heartless, dishonest extremism of Roberts and Alito and the more straightforward extremism of Scalia and Thomas, for years and years to come.
tdog
This is pure unadulterated unthinking nonsense.
5 catholics on the supreme court is obscene. 6 catholics is nothing but pure insanity.
When the previous court was consistently voting for the corporations, big government, unfettered government, raw military power, all churchs and for any big time criminals at the rate of something like 92 per cent, you actually think that a minority woman of their religion will slow down the oligarchy from having more and more and more power? It would take 40 years to even have half assed representation on the previous court to try to get justice, now it is 45 years and you cheer.
PS you can kiss Roe vs Wade goodby, as well as anything resembling free speech.
I really like your blog, but I can’t agree with you that this is a good thing.
Now, now. The perfect remains the enemy of the good (the Obama theme song!) I’ve said outright that Sotomayor for Souter (probably the first time that ever that one justice is replaced by another whose name begins and ends with the same letter, though Roberts and Rehnquist were close!) is a net loss to progressives, but that’s because the Court’s two most progressive members are Rockefeller Republicans appointed by Ford and Bush Pere; Clinton appointed “pro-big business Democrats” (a pair of Jews, at that). What we have is a Court that looks like NEW YORK: dominated by Catholics and Jews, including people of color. OTOH, it’s clearly time that there were more women and people of color on the Court, and Sotomayor beefs up both stats, with a pretty middle of the road judicial record.
Ideologically, where the Court is now reflects the fact that since since the 1968 election, we have had 28 years of Republicans and only 12 (and a half) years of Democrats in the White House. That’s what the country elected; that’s what the country wanted at the time. Time’s they’re a changin’… perhaps.
No one expects Sonia Sotomayor to start voting like Antonin Scalia… except, evidently, my commenter above. Souter is doubtless more progressive than Sotomayor, especially on “crime and punishment” issues… but Sotomayor is simply not going to vote with the conservative bloc most of the time.
Roe v. Wade was largely eviscerated before Sotomayor stepped on the bench, and in any event, affluent women will always have options… and isn’t that what America is about? As for free speech… affluent Americans will always have options… and isn’t that what America is about?
The Court is and has been and will only be moreso about protecting the financially well-off and otherwise powerful from incursions against their wealth and power, be it by government or their inferiors… and isn’t that what America is all about?
And who would you like better? Solicitor General Kagan who has already come out in favor of “preventive detention,” the bedrock policy of any self-respecting autocracy?
The perfect remains the enemy of the good. I just don’t see the problem on this one. The probable departures of Stevens and Ginsberg later in Obama’s first term will be more interesting; and most interesting of all will be if one of the conservative members leaves… but this is just not something I see getting all upset about. Not like Scam Alito or John the Robot Roberts, both of which required John Kerry losing.