Rita Morena and a cast of racists put their bigotry to music… Meanwhile, a small chorus of conservatives are coming out urging that Republican opposers of Sotomayor show restraint, and get away from the silly "racist" name-calling. Even the Wall Street Journal is saying, "Republicans, Let's Play Grown-Up", to which John Cole responds: Does anyone honestly think they can dial … Read More
Sotomayer’s Supposedly “Terrible” Reversal Rate
Steve Benen addresses this argument: The conservative Washington Times ran a headline yesterday that read, "Sotomayor reversed 60% by high court." The article quoted a right-wing activist saying, "Her high reversal rate alone should be enough for us to pause and take a good look at her record." Rachel Maddow had a great segment on this GOP talking point last … Read More
The Newest Anti-Sotomayor Meme
OMG! OMG! She's a member of "La Raza" which means "The Race"! Scary foreign-sounding name, so it must be a scary radical terrorist group or something. Seriously, that's the cry from the far right this afternoon: As President Obama's Supreme Court nominee comes under heavy fire for allegedly being a "racist," Judge Sonia Sotomayor is listed as a member of … Read More
Sotomayor, Minority Status, and “Empathy”
The Republicans are going to go ballistic about this quote from the Supreme Court nominee: "[W]hen a case comes before me involving, let's say, someone who is an immigrant — and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases — I can't help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn't that long ago when they … Read More
Sotomayor Socialist
It's early yet, but I'll bet we're going to hear LOTS about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's 1976 Princeton yearbook photo. Who is this "Norman Thomas" that she quotes? From Wikipedia: Norman Mattoon Thomas (1884—1968) was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. Oh, hell's bells. UPDATE: And if you don't … Read More
So It’s Sotomayer
You probably know this by now: President Obama announced on Tuesday that he will nominate the federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, choosing a daughter of Puerto Rican parents raised in Bronx public housing projects to become the nation’s first Hispanic justice. Judge Sotomayor, who stood next to the president during the announcement, was described by Mr. … Read More
An Open Letter To The President
Dear President Obama, I understand that there may be a position opening on the Supreme Court. Just to let you know, I'm a lawyer. I know that's not a prerequisite, but I think it helps. And I'm a liberal, but dogmatically so. I can sit on a bench all day if that is what the job requires, although I hope … Read More
And Now The Madness Begins
Souter is planning to retire at the end of this term. Which means we're in for months and months of maddening news cycles about who Obama will nominate, will the Senate Republicans block, "up or down" votes, etc etc etc. UPDATE: Professor Orin Kerr has already provided the talking points for both sides: Republicans first: The Supreme Court is losing … Read More
Strip-Searching Students
Ah, the days when I used to write in detail about Supreme Court cases in this blog are long in the past. A shame, really. But the Supremes did happen to hear a rather interesting Fourth Amendment case yesterday. I should preface by saying that the nation's highest court hears a lot of Fourth Amendment cases: in the neighborhood of … Read More
In Which I Answer A Dumb Question From Clarence Thomas
So he was appearing at a rare speaking engagement: The event, on March 31, was devoted to the Bill of Rights, but Justice Thomas did not embrace the document, and he proposed a couple of alternatives. ‘Today there is much focus on our rights,” Justice Thomas said. “Indeed, I think there is a proliferation of rights.” “I am often surprised … Read More
SCOTUS Rejects Obama Birth Case
First Read reports: The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a case that questioned whether President-elect Obama met the Constitution's requirement that only a natural-born citizen is eligible to be president. As is the court's usual custom, the request to take up the case was denied with no explanation. I blogged about the petition here. David Horowitz is … Read More
Supremes To Hear al-Marri Case
Background: al-Marri is a citizen of Qatar. He was in the United States, studying at Bradley University. He was arrested in Peoria, Illinois, in December 2001 on charges of credit card fraud, identity fraud, and a few other things. This charges were dropped when Bush declared him an "enemy combatant" in 2003. He's been sitting in Naval Consolidated Brig, Charleston in South … Read More
Required Reading
For constitution and "war on terror" geeks only: Dworkin’s article in The NY Review of Books explaining the historic significance of last month’s SCOTUS decision in Boumediene v. Bush. It’s too detailed to summarize here: just read it.
More On Heller: Scalia vs. Stevens
Prof. Sandy Levinson compares the majority opinion of Scalia with the dissent by Stevens: I confess that I am equally dismayed by the Scalia and Stevens opinions (though, if absolutely forced to choose, I’d go with the Scalia opinion). One of the most remarkable features of Justice Scalia’s majority opinion (joined, of course, by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, … Read More
Heller Decision In
5-4 in favor of individual gun rights, meaning that you can own a gun for self-defense and hunting (rather than for being in the militia, which arugably is what the Second Amendment says). Justice Scalia wrote the opinion, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito. Justice Breyer dissented, joined by Justices Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg; there’s … Read More