Sonia Sotomayor

President Obama has picked a judge of Latina heritage and New York upbringing to fill the position of retiring Justice Souter.

Of course, the liberals are all touting her West Side Story heritage, but I didn't spend two seconds on that.

Some things to consider: POTUS George Bush 41 appointed her to the Federal bench in the first place, and when she was being confirmed, she emphasized that her guidance in law is the legal precepts of the Founding Fathers. She re-iterated that today.

She's the second woman on the court. Will THAT be a factor? The answer is a firm maybe. In some court systems, the women tend to form a group, eat lunch together, etc. I can't think of anything much worse for prospective Justice Sotomayor than if she allowed herself to be taken under the wing of Justice Ginsburg, but I see her as a stronger individual than Ginsburg, who is probably on her way off the High Court, anyway.

There are plusses in her humble background. Her mother was in the Army for a while. Her father held steady work his entire adulthood, living in a place (the projects in the Bronx) where others of his background decided early on to live off welfare. Those parents bought their kids an encyclopedia so as to have instant reference to the outside world. For you geeks, encyclopedias WERE the earliest form of universal knowledge. My parents bought one for my sis and brother and I.

On first look, Sonia Sotomayor strikes me as not the worst pick Obama could have made, and given the facts of the politcs involved, probably one of the best as far as the survival of the Constitution goes.

She's probably pro-abortion. That's not MY litmus test. It's a non-issue to me. Strict construction is my litmus test. Sotomayor appears to, at the very least, value the ideal of strict construction.

I'm certainly not going to be howling for a filibuster at this point.

Comments

[JohnW]

"Second woman"? Are we not counting O'Connor or Ginsburg?

[Doo2]

O'Connor is no longer on the court. So she would be #2

[Aaron Neal]

"A wise, hispanic woman should make better decisions than a white man, because he hasn't lived that life"

"The Court of Appeals is where policy is made"

Those are from memory, so don't consider them actual quotes, but that's what Sotomayor has said in the past.

She's a racist, sexist bigot, and thinks Justices should be activists and set policy rather than apply the rule of law. That makes her a no-go in my book, and I'll be telling John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison exactly that, and for those reasons.