Obama nominates Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court


Today Obama announced his pick to replace Justice Souter on the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor. Conservatives are already calling her a “judicial activist.”

Conservatives argue Sotomayor has a “hard-left record” and believes that judges should consider experiences of women and minorities in their decision-making.

Sounds pretty awesome to me. Although the road to confirmation is likely to be rocky, I hope Sotomayor is indeed confirmed. I was also heartened to see that all of the names on Obama’s short-list were women. Yes, Sotomayor’s record and experience should be first and foremost when we discuss her as a possible justice, but her identity is not insignificant. I’m looking forward to returning to an era of two women on the court — because it’s pretty damn appalling that “consider(ing) the experiences of women and minorities” is not something we expect of all members of the current Court.
For more on Sotomayor’s legal opinions, SCOTUSblog has a detailed rundown in four parts: I, II, III, IV.
(Again, we’re at our retreat right now, so sorry for the brevity. More on Sotomayor and her record to come…)

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