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Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Damon Root | 8.6.2009 4:47 PM

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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.

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NEXT: Tyranny of the Minority

Damon Root is a senior editor at Reason and the author of A Glorious Liberty: Frederick Douglass and the Fight for an Antislavery Constitution (Potomac Books).

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  1. Spoonman   16 years ago

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

  2. Lamar   16 years ago

    Could be worse.

  3. P Brooks   16 years ago

    Oh, frabjous day.

  4. Kevin   16 years ago

    I thought she was confirmed about 2 weeks ago.

  5. Episiarch   16 years ago

    Could be worse.

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

  6. hmm   16 years ago

    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.

  7. Nipplemancer   16 years ago

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

  8. ?   16 years ago

    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.

  9. Spoonman   16 years ago

    Bison-faced. Nice.

  10. Pro Libertate   16 years ago

    Oh, crap. John Hughes just died.

  11. Chicken Bones of Justice   16 years ago

    Just an expansion of the Cash for Clunkers program really.

  12. Federal Dog   16 years ago

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

  13. Chicken Bones of Justice   16 years ago

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

  14. Chicken Bones of Justice   16 years ago

    IIRC what he said was, “they don’t want a Hispanic on the court.”

  15. Pro Libertate   16 years ago

    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?

  16. Jerry   16 years ago

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

  17. joshua corning   16 years ago

    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.

  18. John C. Randolph   16 years ago

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

    Better than Souter? Talk about damning with faint praise.

    -jcr

  19. EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy   16 years ago

    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.

  20. Chicken Bones of Justice   16 years ago

    “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.

  21. Warren   16 years ago

    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.

  22. DanD   16 years ago

    “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.

  23. Pro Libertate   16 years ago

    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.

  24. mb   16 years ago

    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.

  25. JB   16 years ago

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

  26. JW   16 years ago

    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.

  27. Chicken Bones of Justice   16 years ago

    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

  28. MNG   16 years ago

    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.

  29. Pro Libertate   16 years ago

    JW,

    A “techno-viking?” There is only the Technoviking. And he’d be awesome on the Court.

  30. MNG   16 years ago

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

  31. Pro Libertate   16 years ago

    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.

  32. Chicken Bones of Justice   16 years ago

    “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

  33. MNG   16 years ago

    Pro
    Are you serious, Hughes is dead?

  34. MNG   16 years ago

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

  35. Chicken Bones of Justice   16 years ago

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

  36. MNG   16 years ago

    Holy shit, you’re right Pro!

  37. JW   16 years ago

    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.”

  38. JW   16 years ago

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

  39. MNG   16 years ago

    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.

  40. Jaybird   16 years ago

    How would she have ruled on Gonzales v. Raich?

  41. MNG   16 years ago

    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!

  42. SugarFree   16 years ago

    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.)

  43. MNG   16 years ago

    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…

  44. JW   16 years ago

    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.

  45. Pro Libertate   16 years ago

    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.

  46. ktc2   16 years ago

    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.

  47. Russ 2000   16 years ago

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

  48. P Brooks   16 years ago

    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.

  49. Neu Mejican   16 years ago

    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.

  50. 24AheadDotCom   16 years ago

    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.

  51. MNG   16 years ago

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

  52. Episiarch   16 years ago

    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.

  53. Anonymous   16 years ago

    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.

  54. Forget it / we\'re doomed / th   16 years ago

    “they don’t want a AN Hispanic on the court.”

  55. libertymike   16 years ago

    Neu-

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

  56. Nick   16 years ago

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

  57. anarch   16 years ago

    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.

  58. EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy   16 years ago

    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?

  59. Anonymous   16 years ago

    “they don’t want a AN Hispanic on the court.”

    You don’t pronounce the ‘H’?

  60. Anonymous   16 years ago

    OK. But, uh….just what was Alberto “It’s OK to torture people” Gonzales’ qualification?

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

  61. Ricky Ricardo   16 years ago

    @ Anonymous: at’s-a-right.

  62. ose iminez   16 years ago

    Si!

  63. idem   16 years ago

    see

  64. Neu Mejican   16 years ago

    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…

  65. MNG   16 years ago

    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…

  66. MNG   16 years ago

    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…

  67. Anonymous   16 years ago

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

  68. Rich   16 years ago

    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.

  69. The Angry Optimist   16 years ago

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

  70. robc   16 years ago

    MNG,

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

  71. robc   16 years ago

    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.

  72. strike through   16 years ago

    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?

  73. pgt   16 years ago

    robc,
    the XXX was Souter.

  74. hmm   16 years ago

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

    Fucking details, who needs them.

  75. R C Dean   16 years ago

    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.

  76. Frank Fitton   16 years ago

    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/

  77. Chicken Bones of Justice   16 years ago

    “”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.

  78. Nike Dunk High   14 years ago

    thanks

  79. Nike Dunk High   14 years ago

    thanks

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