Supreme Court Nominations

Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings: July 13

The Senate Judiciary Committee has set Monday, July 13 for the start of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings. “In selecting this date I am trying to be fair to all concerned,” said Judiciary Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy said in a statement covered by the Washington Post’s 44…

Jun 9, 2009 5:31 PM CDT

In One Respect—an Ivy League Education—Sotomayor Is Part of the In Crowd

Judge Sonia Sotomayor has told of feeling like an outsider during her college days at Princeton University. But if Sotomayor is confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Yale law graduate would become part of an “in group” of eight Ivy League-educated justices. Only Justice John Paul Stevens, who graduated…

Jun 9, 2009 3:21 PM CDT

Netiquette Debate Erupts over Law Prof’s Outing as ‘Publius’ Blogger

Conservative blogger Ed Whelan decided he had had enough after a pseudonymous critic known as Publius called him a “legal hitman” who was distorting the record of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Writing this weekend on the Bench Memos blog published by the National Review Online, Whelan revealed he had…

Jun 9, 2009 1:06 PM CDT

Sotomayor’s Nomination: Today’s News

CQ Politics: “Gun Rights Lobby Prepares To Weigh In On Sotomayor” Kiplinger.com: “Gun Lobby’s Blast at Sotomayor Badly Aimed” Weekly Standard’s The Blog: “Why No Credit for Affirmative Action?” New Yorker News Desk blog: School Days [Featuring interview with William Bowen, who was president of Princeton when Sotomayor matriculated there.]…

Jun 8, 2009 9:55 PM CDT

Sotomayor Trips at Airport, Fractures Her Ankle

A broken ankle isn’t stopping U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor from meeting with senators today who will vote on her confirmation. Sotomayor tripped and injured her ankle at LaGuardia Airport, but she boarded the plane to Washington, D.C., to make her scheduled meetings with six senators, the Associated Press…

Jun 8, 2009 6:52 PM CDT

How Sonia Sotomayor Spends Her Money

Sonia Sotomayor made more than $205,000 last year as a federal appeals judge and law lecturer. Yet her net worth of $740,000 is relatively low compared to other justices she would like to join on the U.S. Supreme Court. So where does the money go? Part of Sotomayor’s salary covers…

Jun 8, 2009 1:51 PM CDT

Sotomayor’s Nomination: Today’s News

ABAJournal.com: “Anita Hill Talks About Sotomayor and Her Own Clarence Thomas Testimony” ABAJournal.com: “Sotomayor Used ‘Wise Latina’ Line More than Once” Associated Press: “GOP Leader Not Ruling Out Blocking Sotomayor” Blog of Legal Times: “GW Prof to Advise Cornyn on Sotomayor Nomination” Christian Science Monitor: “Sotomayor a racist? Hardly, South…

Jun 5, 2009 10:26 PM CDT

Anita Hill Talks About Sotomayor and Her Own Clarence Thomas Testimony

Seventeen years after she became a household name by testifying about alleged sexual harassment by then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill says she believes Obama administration nominee Sonia Sotomayor is a great choice because of her intellect, breadth of experience and respect for the rule of law. Hill,…

Jun 5, 2009 6:00 PM CDT

Sotomayor Used ‘Wise Latina’ Line More than Once

Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s controversial remark about wise Latina judges has appeared in more than one speech. Sotomayor frequently remarked on her ethnicity and gender in 84 speeches released by the White House yesterday, according to reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post. The speeches by Sotomayor, who…

Jun 5, 2009 1:09 PM CDT

Sotomayor’s Nomination: Today’s News

ABAJournal.com: “Sotomayor App Shows White House Called Days Before Souter Announced Retirement” ABAJournal.com: “Sotomayor Described as Intense, Chain-Smoking, Caffeinated Prosecutor” Atlanta Journal-Constitution (opinion): “‘Racist’ isn’t term to use lightly” Christian Science Monitor: “Sotomayor on Tape: What She Said in Firefighter Race Case” CQPolitics: “Sotomayor Completes Questionnaire; Leahy Calls for Prompt…

Jun 4, 2009 11:57 PM CDT

Sotomayor App Shows White House Called Days Before Souter Announced Retirement

A fast-track approach to the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to a seat on the nation’s highest court continued today, as the White House provided a large compilation of documents, opinions and financial disclosures to the Senate Judiciary Committee “bragging that it was delivering the information … faster than [for]…

Jun 4, 2009 11:28 PM CDT

Sotomayor Described as Intense, Chain-Smoking, Caffeinated Prosecutor

Judge Sonia Sotomayor was an intense, no-nonsense prosecutor during five years spent at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, a real-world experience that isn’t shared by justices now on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sotomayor joined the office fresh out of Yale Law School in 1979, spurning big law firms because she…

Jun 4, 2009 1:01 PM CDT

Sotomayor’s Nomination: Today’s News

ABAJournal.com: “7th Circuit Upholds Gun Ban, Agrees with Sotomayor” Associated Press: “First lady cites Sotomayor’s example to graduates” Blog of Legal Times: “On The Hill, Sotomayor Tests Out a Catch Phrase” Boston Globe: “Sotomayor in for a grilling, but a fair one, GOP vows” CNN: “Borger: Why Gingrich withdrew ‘racist’…

Jun 3, 2009 10:40 PM CDT

7th Circuit Upholds Gun Ban, Agrees with Sotomayor

Critics have called Judge Sonia Sotomayor an “anti-gun radical” for joining in a federal appeals court decision holding that U.S. Supreme Court precedent does not restrict state and local laws banning the possession of some weapons. Now a panel of 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that includes two leading…

Jun 3, 2009 4:42 PM CDT

Sotomayor’s Nomination: Today’s News

ABAJournal.com: “Goldstein of SCOTUSblog Is ‘Attorney, Blogger, Walking Sound-Bite Machine’” Associated Press: “Sotomayor counters GOP critics over bias claims” Associated Press: “Singlehandedly Raising a Supreme Court Nominee” Blog of Legal Times: “7th Circuit Ruling Agrees With Sotomayor on Second Amendment” Bloomberg: “Sotomayor May Have Some Unlikely Allies to Answer Gun…

Jun 2, 2009 10:31 PM CDT