Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Sotomayor an Unknown from AfterDowningStreet.org

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/42986

What we do know of her opinions tells us very little about the most important dangers facing us. And the chances the Senate will answer our questions at her confirmation seem to all hang on Russ Feingold.

Marjorie Cohn said:

"It is significant that President Obama has nominated the first Latino to the Supreme Court and Sonia Sotomayor will bring to two the number of women on the high court. She will be a solid liberal but will not change the political balance of the Court since she will replace Justice David Souter. Although she will likely be called upon to review Obama's decisions on interrogation policies, preventive detention and the state secrets privilege, Sotomayor's views on executive power are largely unknown. But with this pick, Obama has missed an opportunity to tap a liberal intellectual giant like William Brennan who will have a major impact on the Court for years to come. George W. Bush didn't hesitate to choose two unabashedly right-wing justices. Obama could have chosen Pamela Karlan, Harold Koh or Erwin Chemerinsky, who would have provided a true progressive counterweight to Justices Scalia, Roberts, Alito and Thomas."

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