Video: Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor: Judges Make Policy
Posted on May 26, 2009
You can bet this video will be a sticking point in the fight about to happen. At least it should be.
This month…a video surfaced of Judge Sotomayor asserting in 2005 [during a panel discussion for law students] that a ‘court of appeals is where policy is made.’ She then immediately adds: ‘And I know — I know this is on tape, and I should never say that because we don’t make law. I know. Okay. I know. I’m not promoting it. I’m not advocating it. I’m — you know.’
Hot Air has video of Karl Rove stating Sotomayor could be even more liberal than Souter, and that conservatives might feel compelled to push to block her based on her rulings from the appellate court.
To my mind, what Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court, said there disqualifies her from her position on the Court of Appeals. It should render her beyond the pale for a position on the Supreme Court of the United States. Will it? Of course not. But it should prompt anyone who cares about the rule of law to oppose her nomination.
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Activist Judges, Constitution, News, Politics As Usual, U.S. Constitution, Video
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For every significant case, both sides have public policy arguments. This means that regardless of how the case is decided, there be someone who prevails who argued a particular policy to support that decision. Judicial restraint is a public policy. Adherence to constitutional text is a public policy. Declaring a statute unconstitutional has public policy ramifications. Or declaring it constitutional, Because the Supreme Court only hears 100 cases a year, the judge is right that the intermediate courts often decide policy questions one way or the other. This means that the opinion expressed here is either by an idiot who doesnt understand how the legal system works or is someone who is being deliberately deceptive. Take your pick. There may be reasons not to support this judge. This speech is not one of them.