Published August 6, 2009 | 12:44 pm
Sotomayor Nomination: Wrap-Up and Going Forward
To: JCN Members and Interested Parties
From: Gary Marx, Executive Director, and Wendy E. Long, Counsel
Date: August 6, 2009
Re: Sotomayor Nomination: Wrap-Up and Going Forward
The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor has provided some unexpected silver linings in the long-term fight for judicial restraint and responsibility. It would have been hard to imagine, little more than two months ago, that this first Obama nomination to the Supreme Court would produce:
• The most unpopular confirmed Supreme Court nominee ever in polls.
According to prominent nationwide polls, fewer than half of Americans supported the Sotomayor nomination and just as many opposed it. Even Hispanic voters were almost equally divided, even though she was the first Latina nominee to the Supreme Court, and according to another poll, the Obama support rating among Hispanics actually dropped 7% the week after the Sotomayor hearings. The Rahm Emanuel /Obama White House hardball identity politics play, in other words, did not work.
As Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) noted, Judge Sotomayor’s life story was “inspiring and compelling,” but so was that of Miguel Estrada, whom the Democrats smeared and filibustered seven times in order to prevent the ascendancy of a Hispanic Republican nominee to the Supreme Court. The reason for Judge Sotomayor’s low approval ratings are that Americans of all races and ethnicities know the real test of a judge is not ethnicity or background but the ability to be impartial and to dispense equal justice under law.
Published July 28, 2009 | 11:52 am
Zogby poll finds strong opposition to Sotomayor confirmation
TO: JCN MEMBERS AND INTERESTED PARTIES
FROM: WENDY E. LONG, COUNSEL
GARY A. MARX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
DATE: JULY 28, 2009
RE: ZOGBY POLL FINDS STRONG OPPOSITION TO SOTOMAYOR
CONFIRMATION
Published July 27, 2009 | 12:02 pm
VERDICT ON SOTOMAYOR IS "NO"
TO: JCN MEMBERS AND INTERESTED PARTIES
FROM: WENDY E. LONG, COUNSEL
GARY A. MARX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
DATE: JULY 27, 2009
RE: SONIA SOTOMAYOR: THE FINAL VERDICT IS A RESOUNDING “NO”
Based on our pre-hearing examination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s record, we asked Senators to oppose her nomination. After completing our review of Judge Sotomayor’s hearing testimony and written responses to Senators’ written questions, we are today reiterating our recommendation that Senators vote “no” on her nomination.
Published July 17, 2009 | 8:33 am
End of Day 4 Statement on Sotomayor Hearings
Judge Sotomayor stuck to her John Roberts imitation today, refusing to endorse the Obama standard of judging and the view of the Constitution that he was so confident that she shared. It's hard to imagine how any future Obama court nominee will be able to defend his vision of judging based on what is in a judge's "heart" after Sotomayor rejected it so forcefully.
Published July 14, 2009 | 6:58 pm
Two Faces of Sonia Sotomayor
Statement by Wendy Long of the Judicial Confirmation Network.
The first face is the one we know from three decades of her life as a lawyer and judge. The second face is like a mask she donned today, and can only be chalked up to a "confirmation conversion": she is saying things today that are irreconcilable with what she's said for the last 30 years.
She denies to Sen. Graham that she adheres to the Legal Realism school, yet she wrote a law review article embracing it.