Sotomayor Confirmed as 111th USSC Justice

68-31... wonder what the aisle break out was? Off to the link.

ETA: Wow, Sen. Voinovitch's statement may be one of the most rational things I've heard come out of the beltway in awhile:

"Judge Sotomayor is not the nominee I would have selected if I were president, but making a nomination is not my role here today... My role is to examine her qualifications to determine if she is fit to serve. ... Based on my review of her record, and using these factors, I have determined that Judge Sotomayor meets the criteria to become a justice on the Supreme Court."

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Terrific!

Great day for the entitlement "Hey...I'm a minority, you owe me jobs and promotions in spite of qualifications" crowd.

Sad day for even an attempt at reasonably moderate jurisprudence.

She certainly is. I'll think she'll be an outstanding justice.

Given the Republicans' irrational whining about Sotomayor and her "extremism", it wouldn't bother me all that much if the next time there's an opening on the Supreme Court, Obama nominates someone as far left as as Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts are far right. Just so the Republicans understand what extremism is.

I hope against the odds she'll be to the left as Souter turned out to be to the right.

ColoradoGuy said:

In contrast to Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts, I think she is quite moderate.

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This is the problem I see with many on the right. They view far right politicians and judges as moderate mainstream individuals, and therefore those who are basically centrist, or slightly left of center as far out fringe radicals.

So coming to any sort of bipartisan consensus becomes very difficult.

rugcat said:

This is the problem I see with many on the right. They view far right politicians and judges as moderate mainstream individuals, and therefore those who are basically centrist, or slightly left of center as far out fringe radicals.

So coming to any sort of bipartisan consensus becomes very difficult.

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It's a good thing there's no one on the left who views far left politicians as moderates.

Another Supreme who doesn't understand the meaning of "infringed." Oh, how terrific.

ColoradoGuy said:

In contrast to Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts, I think she is quite moderate.

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I don't necessarily disagree with you regarding some rulings with regards to Scalia, Thomas, or Roberts. How moderate she turns out to be will be a matter for history, although her public assertion that she is better qualified for the bench because of her minority roots and some of her rulings on the Court of Appeals don't bode well for her objectivity IMO. My hope, which will probably never be realized, is that appointees to the SCOTUS will not be agenda driven, or activist jurists seeking to make policy from the bench. I hope she surprises me.

Given human nature, that's probably a naive and unrealistic expectation.

I'm glad it's happened finally.

She seems good.

dclary said:

It's a good thing there's no one on the left who views far left politicians as moderates.

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What he said.

ColoradoGuy said:

Yes. It's all about the Overton Window.

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Assuming this "Overton Window" is an accurate descriptor of people's reactions, it's still very subjective. What you find acceptable I might find radical.

Yay! Congrats to her.




The 1st justice "from Puerto Rico" if you watched HLN this morning, where that's what an anchor said. Yay, Maria!!!

Why is it the older I get the more unqualified our representatives seem? I remember a time when we used to have statesmen.

I'll just say this about the right. It has drifted much farther to the right than it used to be. Today's right would regard Reagan's record as California governor as liberal. Goldwater himself didn't think too highly of some aspects of far right orthodoxy by the time he retired from politics.

There has not been any comparable drift on the left.

As far as the Supreme Court is concerned, this all started when the right sensed an opportunity to gain a majority to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Until the right made that a political goal, we did not have this kind of partisanship over Supreme Court nominees. Scalia, for example, got confirmed unanimously.

clintl said:

There has not been any comparable drift on the left.

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That's because there isn't any more room for them to drift. The left has always been on the fringe.

clintl said:

Goldwater himself didn't think too highly of some aspects of far right orthodoxy by the time he retired from politics.

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Notably on the issue of abortion rights.

caw

POPASMOKE said:

Great day for the entitlement "Hey...I'm a minority, you owe me jobs and promotions in spite of qualifications" crowd.

Sad day for even an attempt at reasonably moderate jurisprudence.

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You know, Bush wanted to appoint a white woman who had never been a judge and GOP barely bats an eye.

A hispanic woman with an IMPRESSIVE record and story gets nominated and of course it's a minority entitlement.

IMHO it is to this country's advantage to have its government represent the populace and hispanics make up a significant percentage of this country.

clintl said:

She certainly is. I'll think she'll be an outstanding justice.

Given the Republicans' irrational whining about Sotomayor and her "extremism", it wouldn't bother me all that much if the next time there's an opening on the Supreme Court, Obama nominates someone as far left as as Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts are far right. Just so the Republicans understand what extremism is.

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rugcat said:

This is the problem I see with many on the right. They view far right politicians and judges as moderate mainstream individuals, and therefore those who are basically centrist, or slightly left of center as far out fringe radicals.

So coming to any sort of bipartisan consensus becomes very difficult.

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QFT. I'm so tired of both sides regarded the other as looney and themselves as 'center'. Gets annoying.

Overall, happy this is final. Be interesting to see how she does.

Mel...

blacbird said:

Notably on the issue of abortion rights.

caw

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Gays too. "You don't have to be straight to be in the Army, just shoot straight" (or something like that).

Shadow_Ferret said:

Why is it the older I get the more unqualified our representatives seem? I remember a time when we used to have statesmen.

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You are so old fashioned!