Questions for Sotomayor
Yesterday President Barack Obama announced his nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. She is federal circuit court judge Sonia Sotomayor. What sorts of questions should senators and the American people ask a nominee to the Supreme Court?
- Do you believe that judges should use "empathy" to decide cases? If so, what's the difference between empathy and judicial activism? The president has emphasized empathy as a paramount judicial quality.
Polls show, however, that Americans want moderate judges who follow the law, not their hearts.
Chief Justice John Roberts said in his confirmation hearings that judges should act like umpires -- calling the plays, not making them. Mr. Obama has suggested he wants a home-run hitter. - Do you believe that interpretations of the Constitution should evolve to keep up with the times? If so, how would you decide when the Constitution needs updating? The president has said he believes that the Constitution has to change to keep up with the times, and in Ms. Sotomayor he has probably not chosen a candidate who believes in following the original meaning of the text.
Nonetheless, constitutional text and original meaning should provide some constraint on the scope of interpretation. The nominee should be able to state some guidelines and limits for interpretation, including whether and how she would consider international law or the constitutional law of other nations.
- Should Supreme Court justices be bound by precedent? All justices sometimes overrule previous decisions. So when is it appropriate to do so? Of course, this is the question that senators use to probe nominees of Republican presidents to see whether they would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. For Ms. Sotomayor the question is whether she perceives any limits on the ability of the Supreme Court to read new rights into the Constitution.
Not all 'compelling personal stories' are equal
Since when did securing a Supreme Court seat become a high hurdles contest?
The White House and Democrats have turned Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination into a personal Olympic event. Pay no attention to her jurisprudence. She grew up in a Bronx public housing project. She was diagnosed with childhood diabetes at 8. Her father died a year later. And, oh, by the way, did you hear that she was poor?
With Judge Sonia Sotomayor already facing questions over her 60 percent reversal rate, the Supreme Court could dump another problem into her lap next month if, as many legal analysts predict, the court overturns one of her rulings upholding a race-based employment decision.
Three of the five majority opinions written by Judge Sotomayor for the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and reviewed by the Supreme Court were reversed, providing a potent line of attack raised by opponents Tuesday after President Obama announced he will nominate the 54-year-old Hispanic woman to the high court.
PULLEN: CONCERNS WITH JUDGE SOTOMAYOR
Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen today recognized President Obama’s historic Supreme Court selection of federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor; however, he also expressed reservations regarding the choice of a jurist who may legislate from the bench.
“People of Hispanic ancestry have a long and distinguished history of serving within our judicial system, including Benjamin Cordozo, who served as an Associate Supreme Court Justice in the 1930s,” said Chairman Pullen. “In fact, Republicans have long supported qualified judges regardless of ethnicity. Recently, the GOP has been supportive of potential nominees for Supreme Court including Judges Ricardo Hinojosa, Cecilia Altonaga, Consuelo María Callahan and Miguel Estrada who for various reasons have not been nominated by Presidents of either party.
“I’m proud to live in a country where all citizens can through hard work and determination, rise to the top of their chosen profession,” said Chairman Pullen. “Judge Sotomayor’s story is an inspirational one and she should be commended for her achievements. But I have concerns with her jurisprudence.”
“The President could have chosen a nominee that had broad bipartisan support, but he went with one of the most controversial names reportedly on his ‘short list’,” said the Chairman. “He promised during his campaign to appoint a Justice who rules based on their own values and what was in their own heart instead of what is actually written in the Constitution. Supreme Court Justices need to make decisions with their head not their heart. Equally troubling is Judge Sotomayor’s comments on supporting judicial activism. Lady Justice has a blindfold for a
reason. I am sure that Judge Sotomayor will have to answer questions about her ability to rule on the Constitution as it is written and whether or not she
will take a liberal interpretation on the most important issues of the day,” said Chairman Pullen.
“Not unexpectedly, the media have already begun their attempt to discourage the Republican Party’s role in the process, saying that any critical analysis of Judge Sotomayor would damage our Party’s efforts to attract Hispanic voters to the GOP. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. It is disingenuous and offensive for anyone to characterize a review of Judge Sotomayor’s record would be anything but due diligence.”
“Presidents have always nominated judges whom they believed shared a political philosophy similar to their own. Often, the Justice turns out to be completely different than they expected. If Judge Sotomayor is confirmed, I sincerely hope that is the case,” Chairman Pullen concluded.
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