Justice Sonia Sotomayor

It's official. The Senate has confirmed Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court by a vote of 68-31. For a refresher on Sotomayor's views on gun rights, private property, racial classifications, and criminal justice (among other issues), check out Reason's Sotomayor coverage here.

Comments

[Spoonman]

I mean, she's replacing Souter, so who really cares?

[Lamar]

Could be worse.

[P Brooks]

Oh, frabjous day.

[Kevin]

I thought she was confirmed about 2 weeks ago.

[Episiarch]

Could be worse.

Exactly. I hope. Ok, so what's the next political circus that's queued up?

[hmm]

I look forward to verbal beat downs in dissents and decisions. I don't think she has the skills to pay the bills in that department.

[Nipplemancer]

non-event. these things haven't been worthwhile to watch since clarence thomas and bob bork.

[?]

I thought she was confirmed about 2 weeks ago.

About two weeks ago, I read someone somewhere describe her as "bison-faced," and it was photographically confirmed.

[Spoonman]

Bison-faced. Nice.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, crap. John Hughes just died.

[Chicken Bones of Justice]

Just an expansion of the Cash for Clunkers program really.

[Federal Dog]

Great to have another rubber stamp for prosecutors on the panel.

[Chicken Bones of Justice]

BTW this morning I heard Senator Menendez say that Republicans aren't voting for her because she's Hispanic. I kid you not.

[Chicken Bones of Justice]

IIRC what he said was, "they don't want a Hispanic on the court."

[Pro Libertate]

As someone who was a member of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly as a young adult, I find that somehow unlikely. And no, I'm not the least bit Hispanic. I don't even remember why I was signed up--they had some kind of free newsletter or something.

Besides, what was A.G. Alberto Gonzales? Is Mexican-American not Hispanic enough?

[Jerry]

Why am I not surprised to see Lindsey Graham voting with the Democrats.

[joshua corning]

I mean, she's replacing Souter, so who really cares?

Souter really is an idiot.

To be honest Sotomayor from a libertarian perspective will probabaly be a better judge.

[John C. Randolph]

To be honest Sotomayor from a libertarian perspective will probabaly be a better judge.

Better than Souter? Talk about damning with faint praise.

-jcr

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Souter really is an idiot.

To be honest Sotomayor from a libertarian perspective will probabaly be a better judge.

I think a credible case could be made that a bunch leeks would make a more libertarian justice the Souter.

[Chicken Bones of Justice]

"I find that somehow unlikely"

"they don't want a Hispanic on the (Supreme) court."

I heard him say it. My mouth fell open. I'm not making this up.

[Warren]

I think a credible case could be made that a bunch leeks would make a more libertarian justice the Souter.
I'd sooner be governed by a bunch of leeks than anyone on the SCOTUS save Thomas.

[DanD]

"They don't want a Hispanic on the Supreme Court."

When your economics are bogus, your promises are many and impossible, and you clearly have met the skepticism of the majority of voting Americans, just fall back on racial identity politics!

Disgusting and pathetic.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, no, no, I believe you. I just find that sort of claim unbelievably stupid. Some liberals say the most outrageous things about conservatives (and, for that matter, libertarians). Surprisingly, their opposition isn't actually composed of racist, raving Nazis that hate women, Hispanics, children, etc.

It's this sort of remark that made me insensitive to all the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the left about the Obama-as-Joker poster. Can dish it out but can't take it, right?

Leeks are notoriously moderate and libertarian.

[mb]

i liked during the hearings when Lindsey Graham asked her if she realized that if he had said the same things that she has said repeatedly throughout her life, there would be no way in hell he would have been allowed to even run for office. And she acknowledged it to be true.

Yet there she is. Boggles the rational mind.

[JB]

This dumb latina broad doesn't think the 2nd Amendment protects any fundamental rights. She has no fundamental rights in my eyes.

[JW]

I heard him say it. My mouth fell open. I'm not making this up.

I thought he said that "they didn't want a techno-viking" on the Supreme Court.

That would be kind of cool. Deliberations would be more fun.

[Chicken Bones of Justice]

It was on Morning Joe (MSNBC) Aug 6. I am looking for a link.

It might be here (can't get youtube at work):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9eX-Bmsd7U

[MNG]

I don't want to tell you libertarians your business, but she'll be a better libertarian justice than Thomas.

But then so would about 99% of judges.

[Pro Libertate]

JW,

A "techno-viking?" There is only the Technoviking. And he'd be awesome on the Court.

[MNG]

Thomas is awful when it comes to the area where government action can have the most harm on a citizen, encounters with law enforcement.

[Pro Libertate]

By the way, when I say John Hughes is dead, I mean the guy who directed Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, etc.

[Chicken Bones of Justice]

"Thomas is awful when it comes to the area where government action can have the most harm on a citizen, encounters with law enforcement."

Yawn

[MNG]

Pro
Are you serious, Hughes is dead?

[MNG]

WTF am I asking for, this is the age of the internet...One sec

[Chicken Bones of Justice]

I man really, what's your core point here?

[MNG]

Holy shit, you're right Pro!

[JW]

A "techno-viking?" There is only the Technoviking. And he'd be awesome on the Court.

Where'd that hyphen come from?

"YOU. KENNEDY. GET YOUR SWING VOTE THE HELL OUT OF HERE."

[JW]

That does it. I'm going home and Watching Ferris tonight.

[MNG]

Chicky
I mean the only libertarian who can find Thomas not to be terrible is one that thinks the federal minimum wage law is more oppresive than having a no-knock raid on your house.

[Jaybird]

How would she have ruled on Gonzales v. Raich?

[MNG]

This is the Thomas who okayed third party consent for police to search a house over a co-tenants explicit rejection Ga v. excluding no knock raids from the exclusionary rule, Randolph, Hudson v. Michigan, strip searching 13 year old girls for tylenol, etc., Safford Unified v. Redding, etc., and that's only recent cases!

[SugarFree]

John Hughes will be missed. I suspect the last remaining person who admits to liking Curly Sue will stand a lonely vigil tonight.

I really wish he had stuck to the less-schmaltzy movies. He was so much better than his later work suggests.

I guess this also kills the Breakfast Club 2 production. (No, I'm not kidding about that. What an awful idea.)

[MNG]

Like I said Jaybird, Thomas would invalidate much federal legislation. He also would allow federal and state police to be pretty unrestrained under the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments.

I personally find government officials strip searching a 13 year old to be a bit more egregious than the federal minimum wage act...

[JW]

I really wish he had stuck to the less-schmaltzy movies. He was so much better than his later work suggests.

Maybe a double-feature with Uncle Buck.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, Hughes made some poor movies, but he also made Vacation, the movies I mentioned above, Sixteen Candles, and Weird Science. He was only 59, too.

I think Thomas has a libertarian streak or two, but, like all the justices, he loves the government too much.

[ktc2]

She's far worse than Souter in one area particular, and that's defendant's rights.

She's an ex-prosecutor who is authoritarian to the core on any criminal "justice" matter.

Say goodbye to what little is left of any semblance of justice from our legal system.

[Russ 2000]

The best thing about this is we'll never have to see her face again.

[P Brooks]

It's not about race, or gender, or identity politics. It's about finding the single best candidate- the finest legal mind- in the country to serve on the highest court in the land.

[Neu Mejican]

P Brooks,

Where in the constitution does it say that the supreme court will be made up of the finest legal minds in the country?

I mean, come on.

[24AheadDotCom]

Go take a look at this, see what they want to "liberate":

lideres.nclr.org/content/groups/detail/2308

Then, thank Reason Magazine for helping get on the SC someone who used to be a member of the NCLR (the National Council of La Raza) and who no doubt will be under their sway.

Take your time: you'll have two or three decades in which to thank all those who helped this happen.

[MNG]

Do you guys ever taste your own semen?
Tastes pretty damn good I think.

[Episiarch]

I really wish he had stuck to the less-schmaltzy movies. He was so much better than his later work suggests.

His early work was (mostly) great, but once he did Home Alone, that was the end. He might as well have just died then.

[Anonymous]

Besides, what was A.G. Alberto Gonzales? Is Mexican-American not Hispanic enough?

Conservatives hire people like Gonzoles and Rice for their qualifications. Liberals hire them for their race, which is a display of compassion.

[Forget it / we\'re doomed / th]

"they don't want a AN Hispanic on the court."

[libertymike]

Neu-

The same place where it says congress shall have the right to regulate commerce betwwen two people in the private sector.

[Nick]

Think she'd get pissed if I call her white?

[anarch]

Nick, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Conservatives hire people like Gonzoles and Rice for their qualifications. Liberals hire them for their race, which is a display of compassion.

OK. But, uh....just what was Alberto "It's OK to torture people" Gonzales' qualification?

[Anonymous]

"they don't want a AN Hispanic on the court."

You don't pronounce the 'H'?

[Anonymous]

OK. But, uh....just what was Alberto "It's OK to torture people" Gonzales' qualification?

I didn't say Bush wasn't a liberal.

[Ricky Ricardo]

@ Anonymous: at's-a-right.

[ose iminez]

Si!

[idem]

see

[Neu Mejican]

libertymike | August 6, 2009, 7:37pm | #
Neu-

The same place where it says congress shall have the right to regulate commerce betwwen two people in the private sector.

Section 8? Article 1?*

That doesn't seem right.
Shouldn't it be in Article 3 somewhere?

*if'n ya'll think the "Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises" is not a regulatory power, ya'll might disagree with this...

[MNG]

spoof @ 7:04

Boy, some people hate it when you pop their conservative love bubbles about Thomas.

And these same people seem to be very interested in semen...

[MNG]

I mean, I always imagined my uber-conservative detractors as angry, red-faced, and foaming at the mouth.

But I always thought that was spittle.

Guess I was too charitable...

[Anonymous]

You sure protest a lot for somebody supposedly attacked by the RWC.

[Rich]

The best thing about this is we'll never have to see her face again.

Or her legs.

Great photo, BTW. My compliments to the cropper.

[The Angry Optimist]

Hush, MNG, and change your handle to Simon Legree.

[robc]

MNG,

You do realize that for about a dozen posts you were arguing with absolutely no one dont you?

[robc]

Raich, Kelo, the weird Thomas-Scalia-Ginsburg-Stevens-XXX majority.

He isnt perfect but sounds at least marginally libertarian to me.

He isnt a libertarian, he is a conservative with libertarian leanings. And really, that makes him the best on the court.

BTW, was the XXX Souter? If so, I worry about Sotomayor.

[strike through]

Senator Harry Reid (D-Wonderland) praised her today as a "woman of color."
That's great. I'm darker than she, and my ancestors hail from Scotland.
I guess I'm a "man of color", that hue being light blue.
Where's my parade?

[pgt]

robc,
the XXX was Souter.

[hmm]

You do realize that for about a dozen posts you were arguing with absolutely no one dont you?

Fucking details, who needs them.

[R C Dean]

Like I said Jaybird, Thomas would invalidate much federal legislation.

Then I don't see how Sotomayor can be a better libertarian Justice than Thomas.

[Frank Fitton]

I'm a little worried about this appointment. Being Cuban myself, I applaud them for finally appointing a Hispanic, as that was long overdue. I feel though that there were better options out there.

Sotamayor's financial irresponsibility troubles me. She does not live within her means, and this usually reflects irresponsibility in other aspects of her life. I wish her well, but I find that aspect extremely troubling.

Check out my blog about her personal finances at http://www.thedebtgazette.com/2009/08/justice-sonia-sotamayor-financial-irresponsiblity/

[Chicken Bones of Justice]

""they don't want a AN Hispanic on the court.""

words begining with the letter H are often preceeded with "an" instead of "a". I'll see if I can supply you with an historic record of when and why that is.

[Nike Dunk High]

thanks

[Nike Dunk High]

thanks