Actually, let me correct the title. He didn’t just not disclose it…he lied about it. Because there’s no way he simply forgot. From LA Times: Between 2003 and 2007, Virginia Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, earned $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, according to a Common Cause review of the foundation’s IRS records. Thomas failed to [...]

This is why I can never get on board with judges like Scalia. Is he a smart guy? Of course. But the following? Not so much… From Callawyer comes this Q&A: In 1868, when the 39th Congress was debating and ultimately proposing the 14th Amendment, I don’t think anybody would have thought that equal protection [...]

Specter lost his senate seat, but he has some parting shots for Republican appointed judges. From CNN: “Ignoring a massive congressional record and reversing recent decisions, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito repudiated their confirmation testimony given under oath and provided the key votes to permit corporations and unions to secretly pay for political advertising [...]

I don’t think there was any question she’d become a Justice, but I think it is surprising that more Republicans didn’t vote for. Especially John McCain. From NY Times comes some of the reasons why… “Judge Sotomayor is certainly a fine person with an impressive story and a distinguished background,” the Senate minority leader, Mitch [...]

No major gaffes in her testimony, so the Republicans really don’t have much choice at this point. Sure, they may not agree with her politics, but they have to save their strength for bigger fights. From Wash Post: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor won virtual assurance of rapid confirmation yesterday when Senate Republicans announced that [...]

In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court has reversed the appellate court decision on a controversial race case involving firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut. Previously, the appellate court including Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, ruled that the city of New Haven did nothing wrong by throwing out the results of a promotion exam because no [...]

Have you noticed how little you’ve heard about Sonia Sotomayor lately? The reason is pretty simple, there are bigger fish for the Republicans to fry. Replacing a liberal justice with a liberal justice on the SCOTUS isn’t a huge deal at the end of the day and they have to save their strength to work [...]

Looks like I’m not the only one. From Huff Post: “Of course this disturbs me,” said Lionel Sosa, one of the more influential Hispanic media advisers in the GOP. “I’m not surprised at Rush Limbaugh but I’m very surprised at Speaker Gingrich because he is one of the key people who knows the importance of [...]

The last paragraph in SCOTUSblog’s evaluation of her decisions on race says it all… In sum, in an eleven-year career on the Second Circuit, Judge Sotomayor has participated in roughly 100 panel decisions involving questions of race and has disagreed with her colleagues in those cases (a fair measure of whether she is an outlier) [...]

Here’s how the numbers break out… Votes approve 54/24 % 22% undecided Democrats support 81/3 % Independents support 50/26 % Republicans oppose 46/26 % Men approve 48/31 % Women approve 59/18 % It’s pretty much a done deal at this point. The “racist” meme isn’t sticking and many Republicans are calling for their cage-rattling compatriots [...]

Does anybody think Sonia Sotomayor isn’t going to get confirmed? Well, if you do, here are some reasons why you may want to rethink. First, the rollout went off without a hitch. Even moderate Republicans lavished praise on her credentials, which are impressive and exactly what you’re looking for from a SCOTUS nominee. And there [...]

This was a bit of a surprise when I heard about it, but apparently Ted Olson has joined forces with the Equal Rights Foundation and they’ve just sent out a press release about yesterday’s decision. Here are some key excerpts (.pdf) … “Yesterday, the California Supreme Court said that the California Constitution compels the State [...]

Trying to understand what kind of justice a Supreme Court nominee will be is a bit like solving a puzzle. You have to decide which pieces (which legal decisions, which law review articles, which public speeches) are the most important to the picture and which are merely outliers. In the case of Sonia Sotomayor, a [...]

First, the less reactionary ones… President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is an important decision that will have an impact on the United States long after his administration. Republicans are committed to a fair confirmation process and will reserve judgment until more is known about Judge Sotomayor’s legal views, judicial [...]

So far, the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court has produced the expected reactions from political commentators. On the right, Sotomayor is being positioned as a liberal activist and an identity-politics hack who indulges leftist policy preferences rather than ruling fairly. On the left, Sotomayor is being praised and her critics positioned as [...]

No doubt you’ll be hearing A LOT about this decision… Although Sotomayor has not had a case dealing directly with abortion rights, she wrote the opinion in Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush, 304 F.3d 183 (2d Cir. 2002), a challenge to the “Mexico City Policy,” which prohibited foreign organizations receiving U.S. funds [...]

I know she was the most buzzed about, but I genuinely didn’t think he was going to go with her because there’s a good chance it’ll turn into a fight given some of her past statements. Also, some of the left were whispering that they weren’t too impressed with her intellect, so I thought Obama [...]

The pick is in. President Obama has chosen federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, Sotomayor will be the third woman and the first Hispanic to serve on the nation’s highest court. The AP has a roundup of her life and career. We’ll have a lot [...]

Political Wire shares some news about Intrade futures and says that Sonomayor is still in the lead… Intrade has opened betting markets for the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice with Sonia Sotomayor currently the favored candidate at a 28% chance. Elena Kagan has a 23% chance of becoming the next justice, followed by Diane Wood [...]

First Read did some digging and came up with the following names: Diane Wood – 7th Circuit Merrick Garland – DC Circuit Court of Appeals Sonia Sotomayor – 2nd Circuit Elena Kagan – Solicitor General Jennifer Granholm – Michigan Governor Janet Napolitano – Homeland Security Secretary So who’s realistic? Well, I think you can count [...]