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Is Sotomayor a Political choice...

Is Sotomayor a Political choice?

  • Yes

    Votes: 23 92.0%

  • No

    Votes: 2 8.0%
  • Total voters
    25
  • Poll closed .
zimmer

zimmer

Educating the Ignorant
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...meaning not among the very best choices?

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zimmer said:
...meaning not among the very best choices?

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Well, ALL Supreme Court picks are political choices to some extent. If a candidate doesn't roughly match the president's political ideology, the president isn't going to pick him/her no matter how qualified he/she is.

With that said, I personally would have preferred Elena Kagan, Diane Wood, or Pamela Karlan. I'm sure Sotomayor will be fine, but I think that intellectualism is an important trait for a Supreme Court pick, because they can sway the opinions of other justices over time and actually have more influence than just their one vote. And I'm not sure that Sotomayor has that particular trait.
 
I do not see this as a yes or no question. Was politics involved in the decision? Of course. Was politics the deciding measure? I don't think so.
 
Redress said:
I do not see this as a yes or no question. Was politics involved in the decision? Of course. Was politics the deciding measure? I don't think so.
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Well put. I think she's well qualified (after briefly reviewing her résumé) but she's being picked by a Democratic president. And I'm guessing her Hispanic heritage wasn't an accident.
 
The thing I see with Sotomayer isn't that she can sway and influence judges on the bench, I don't think she can, what I see is that she doesn't really know what the SCOTUS is all about and can, over time, be swayed by Thomas and Scalia.

IN otherwords, this can backfire on Obama in more ways than one.
 
All supreme court nominees are political choices. A president is going to choose a candidate that closely matches his ideology as closely as possible. Qualifications is not the deciding factor, if was then we would not be trying to submit every nominee to a litmus test(which we should submit nominees to litmus). Hopefully the opposition does everything they can do prevent certain people from getting nominated.
 
Maybe Obama picked Sotomayor now because he knows that he's probably going to get at least two more nominees. I think Sotomayor will probably be more of a fight than most of the other likely nominees, so if Obama is really set on putting her on the Supreme Court, I guess it makes sense to pick her now while he's still riding high in the polls.

But really, Sotomayor isn't even in my top five. If Obama wants to pick a fight while the Republicans are weak, he'd have a better nominee in Pamela Karlan IMO.
 
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Kandahar said:
Well, ALL Supreme Court picks are political choices to some extent. If a candidate doesn't roughly match the president's political ideology, the president isn't going to pick him/her no matter how qualified he/she is.

With that said, I personally would have preferred Elena Kagan, Diane Wood, or Pamela Karlan. I'm sure Sotomayor will be fine, but I think that intellectualism is an important trait for a Supreme Court pick, because they can sway the opinions of other justices over time and actually have more influence than just their one vote. And I'm not sure that Sotomayor has that particular trait.
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Maybe she is trainable. Maybe Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas can help her evolve in the job. ;)

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Appointed by a political figure, and approved through a political body. Sounds like a political choice to me.
 
TOJ said:
Maybe she is trainable. Maybe Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas can help her evolve in the job. ;)

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It's possible. There are numerous instances of Supreme Court Justices starting their career out with one political ideology, then shifting their views in time. The man Sotomayor is replacing is a perfect example of this.

I just hope that Obama's next pick is a more intellectual heavy-hitter, who can go toe-to-toe with John Roberts in terms of brainpower and reasoning.
 
A female Latina?

Yes, this is a political choice.
 
bhkad said:
A female Latina?

Yes, this is a political choice.
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:roll:
You'll make that same accusation anytime a Democratic president (especially a black Democratic president) nominates anyone for anything who isn't a white, non-Latino male. Only 33% of Americans are white, non-Latino males. Get over yourself.

If you don't like Sotomayor, why can't you just talk about her views, rulings, temperament, or whatever else you don't like about her. Why bring up her gender and race as a negative?
 
TOJ said:
Maybe she is trainable. Maybe Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas can help her evolve in the job. ;)

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It would be nice if she ruled based on the Constitution, unlike the clod she might be replacing.
 
Kandahar said:
:roll:
You'll make that same accusation anytime a Democratic president (especially a black Democratic president) nominates anyone for anything who isn't a white, non-Latino male. Only 33% of Americans are white, non-Latino males. Get over yourself.

If you don't like Sotomayor, why can't you just talk about her views, rulings, temperament, or whatever else you don't like about her. Why bring up her gender and race as a negative?
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Becuse it's obvious that SHE was picked because SHE's hispanic. It's not like there isn't a hundred other people out there qualified to sit on that Court. The only issues that guide Democrat judicial nominees is the proven willingness to follow orders, not the Constitution, and their suitable placement on the rainbow.
 
Kandahar said:
It's possible. There are numerous instances of Supreme Court Justices starting their career out with one political ideology, then shifting their views in time. The man Sotomayor is replacing is a perfect example of this.
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Probably won't happen, but it would be a hoot if she turns out to be the Souter opposite.

I just hope that Obama's next pick is a more intellectual heavy-hitter, who can go toe-to-toe with John Roberts in terms of brainpower and reasoning.
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That will be a tall order, especially if the emphasis remains on identity issues.

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bhkad said:
A female Latina?

Yes, this is a political choice.
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I disagree with this assesment. One can speculate that she was chosen simply for her gender and ethnic background, but unless there is evidence that this was the case, speculation is all the it will ever be. She seems to have all the qualifications for the job, and I don't see how her being a latina female specifically vaulted her into the position. I would speculate that it may have been considered, but I doubt it was a determining factor as to whether she could serve.

Having her under scrutiny now, I am not thrilled with the pick myself as things come to light, but I think Obama could have done worse. And I certainley wasn't holding my breath thinking Obama would deliver someone right of center to the SC.
 
WI Crippler said:
I disagree with this assesment. One can speculate that she was chosen simply for her gender and ethnic background, but unless there is evidence that this was the case, speculation is all the it will ever be. She seems to have all the qualifications for the job, and I don't see how her being a latina female specifically vaulted her into the position. I would speculate that it may have been considered, but I doubt it was a determining factor as to whether she could serve.

Having her under scrutiny now, I am not thrilled with the pick myself as things come to light, but I think Obama could have done worse. And I certainley wasn't holding my breath thinking Obama would deliver someone right of center to the SC.
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The Democrats haven't forgotten their focus on making the hispanics the next "guaranteed black vote" of their plantation.


What I'd like to see (it'll never happen) is that all biological information is stripped from the candidates CV and the justice is chosen strictly on the basis of their record, with no reference made to the name, their gender, or their heritage, and only after the Senate confirms nominee W27 is the identity of the candidate revealed.

In the real world, the candidate was picked for reasons no related to their judicial track record, and never will be. Thomas was picked because he was the replacement negro, Ruth Buzzy Ginsberg was picked because Clinton didn't see a photo of her before chosing her, etc etc.

So, the USSC has a guaranteed black seat, a guaranteed women's seat, and now it has a guaranteed hispanic seat. There's only six seats left to be auctioned off, unless they make more. No law against that.
 
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Scarecrow Akhbar said:
Becuse it's obvious that SHE was picked because SHE's hispanic.
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And I'm sure you wouldn't be saying exactly the same thing if Obama picked any OTHER Latino. :roll:

Scarecrow Akhbar said:
It's not like there isn't a hundred other people out there qualified to sit on that Court. The only issues that guide Democrat judicial nominees is the proven willingness to follow orders, not the Constitution, and their suitable placement on the rainbow.
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As I just said, white non-Latino males are only 33% of the population (and that was according to the 2000 census...it's undoubtedly dropped since then). That means in a colorblind and gender-blind society, 2/3 of the time someone else will be chosen. Get over yourself.
 
Baralis said:
I agree with this assesment. I see it as him appeasing two minorities with his choice.
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Women are not a minority. They are a majority of Americans, and a majority of law degree holders. Latinos are 15% of Americans, yet 0 of the 110 people to serve on the Supreme Court have been Latino.

Let's look at all the previous Supreme Court nominees since 1980:

Samuel Alito (white male)
Harriet Miers (white female)
John Roberts (white male)
Stephen Breyer (white male)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (white female)
Clarence Thomas (black male)
David Souter (white male)
Anthony Kennedy (white male)
Douglas Ginsburg (white male)
Robert Bork (white male)
Antonin Scalia (white male)
William Rehnquist (white male)
Sandra Day O'Connor (white female)

Percentage of white nominees: 92%
Percentage of male nominees: 77%

The Supreme Court is not exactly a picture of diversity. People need to stop whining about a president appointing someone who isn't a white male. :roll:
 
Why are we talking about her sex and race, instead of whether she is qualified or likely to make a good Supreme Court Justice? I really get this impresion that our friends on the right want to talk about anything except her qualifications.
 
Kandahar said:
Women are not a minority.
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I knew someone would misunderstand due to my lack of explination. When I said minority I meant in the system, not US population.
 
Baralis said:
I knew someone would misunderstand due to my lack of explination. When I said minority I meant in the system, not US population.
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Women hold a majority of law degrees as well.
 
Redress said:
Why are we talking about her sex and race, instead of whether she is qualified or likely to make a good Supreme Court Justice? I really get this impresion that our friends on the right want to talk about anything except her qualifications.
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So very true, they're playing the race card already and Karl Rove has reservations about her intellectual competance even though she graduated second in her class at Princeton. But none of this matters. This is what I was talking about in another thread where I pointed the insanity of the behavior of anti Obama folks. Whether or not Sotomayer is confrimed, which she will be, Obama is going to appoint Liberal judges...and hopefully lot's of em. Many young Liberal judges who will be alive till after I die. Too bad Republiconservatrians.
 
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