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Sotomayor's 60 Percent Reversal Rate
Powerline ^ | 5/28/2009 | John Hindraker

Posted on 05/28/2009 5:14:10 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Much is being made, in some circles, of the fact that 60 percent of the majority decisions written by Judge Sonia Sotomayor during her tenure on the Second Circuit, on which appeals have been heard by the Supreme Court, have been reversed. On its face, this sounds awful; no judge should be reversed anywhere near 60 percent of the time.

However, the statistic appears to be meaningless. It relates only to Sotomayor's decisions as to which a petition for a writ of certiorari was granted by the Supreme Court--a total of only five. (The overwhelming majority of such petitions are denied.) Of the five cases in which the Supreme Court granted the writ of certiorari, it reversed three. Not only is this a ridiculously small sample, the overall rate of reversal of cases in which the Supreme Court grants cert appears to be around 70 percent. This shouldn't be too surprising, as it requires four votes on the court to grant a writ of certiorari, and five to reverse the Court of Appeals' decision.

So, unless there is more to the story, conservatives should stop citing the 60 percent figure as evidence of any lack of competence on Sotomayor's part.


TOPICS: Government; Society
KEYWORDS: reversal; sotomayor

1 posted on 05/28/2009 5:14:10 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
What about all the people who could not afford to appeal to SCOTUS

2 posted on 05/28/2009 5:18:57 PM PDT by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 119:174 I long for Your salvation, YHvH, Your law is my delight.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Baloney....I / We expect better Judgement from our SCOTUS nominees. 60 % is lousy and One more is pending right now.
A Great defender of the Constitution should have zero SCOTUS cases as the Cases should stand upon the Constitution and the law......such that SCOTUS seldom sees a need to even Review a Decision....let alone Reverse it.
She has a Lousy batting average for her brief time as an Appellate.


3 posted on 05/28/2009 5:21:29 PM PDT by 4Speed
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To: SeekAndFind
So, unless there is more to the story, conservatives should stop citing the 60 percent figure as evidence of any lack of competence on Sotomayor's part.

OK, let's go with that.
The other side of the coin then, is experience, as well as competence.

She hasn't written any majority opinions?
Has she written any opinions?

Doesn't sound like this "neighborhood organizer" is ready for prime time.

4 posted on 05/28/2009 5:49:36 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Sounds like the whole bench across America needs to be cleared. If they rule upon the laws as written there wouldn’t be a problem.


5 posted on 05/28/2009 9:44:25 PM PDT by vpintheak (Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked. Prov. 25:26)
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: arubarnp

Judge Alito had 100% reversed...so how many ? No one seems to be able to count Alito’s total reversals. Too many facts for the Liberals to absorb ?

I’ll give you a Hint, the New nominee had 50% more cases reversed than Alito, and 250% more cases reviewed by the Supreme court than Alito. Since everyone is throwing around % without counts.

I could get into total number of years, but I think Alito stands a head taller than the Nominee.


7 posted on 05/29/2009 7:30:09 PM PDT by 4Speed
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