Top liberal law prof advised Obama not to pick ‘bully’ Sonia Sotomayor [calls her Aff Action hire]

Washington Examiner ^ | Matthew Sheffield

[RatherBiased.com]

One wonders how Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center managed to get a hold of a private letter sent to President Obama by Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe advising him against nominating Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, but be that as it may, its contents are quite interesting and show just how nakedly political Tribe’s view of a justice really is and also how little he thinks of Sotomayor.

In the May 2009 letter (PDF link here), Tribe advises Obama to refrain from choosing Sotomayor because “she’s not nearly as smart as she seems to think she is” and also that she is a “bully” who would would be unable to try to persuade frequent SCOTUS swing vote Anthony Kennedy to a “pragmatically progressive direction,” something that Tribe believes former justice David Souter had managed to do on occasion.

Instead of choosing Sotomayor, Tribe advised the newly elected president appoint Elena Kagan, the then-dean of the Harvard law school whom Obama would later nominate to the Court for a different vacancy, because he saw her as being more skilled at swaying Kennedy given her experience “gently but firmly persuading a bunch of prima donnas” at Harvard Law:

[SatinDoll]

A usurper cannot be impeached, as he/she is holding a position illegally.

Congress wrestled with this problem formerly when two Senators ineligible to hold office were removed and their names stricken from the records as though they never existed.

Obama will be treated the same.

Only congress can remove a sitting President. Usurpers are supposed to be tried by Congress, but that body delegated the power to try usurpers to the District Court, Washington, D.C. There, per Quo Warranto, the usurper must prove eligibility for the office held.

The fact Obama conned millions of people into voting for him doesn’t mean a damned thing!

[SunkenCiv]

additional:

Tribe to Obama: Sotomayor Is “Not Nearly As Smart As She Seems To Think She Is”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2616409/posts

[chilltherats]

Tribe is an unabashed judicial activist commie.

Whelan, OTOH, is first rate.

Tribe shouldn’t be surprised that The Arrogant One of the Golden Columns shirked his advice.

[monkeyshine]

I will not despair! It will take some time, but I believe both Sotomayer and Kagen can be convinced, in time, that they have been wrong, and to slowly turn their reading of the Constitution back towards a document that limits the options of government and expands the rights of the people.

At least I hope. I also hope that Scalia, Alito & Roberts live to 120. And that Justice Thomas lives to 200!

[Redbob]

"...everyone he has hired, appointed and promoted is basically out of a job."

Sorta like January, '13, right?
*\<grin>

[kralcmot]

“Congress wrestled with this problem formerly when two Senators ineligible to hold office were removed and their names stricken from the records as though they never existed.”

not questioning your recollection, but please give me names or source so i can verify this

thanks

[SatinDoll]

I posted it a year and a half ago. Do your own research.

[kralcmot]

Actual impeachments of 19 federal officers have taken place. Of these, 15 were federal judges: Twelve district court, two court of appeals (one of whom also sat on the Commerce Court), and one Supreme Court Associate Justice. Of the other four, two were Presidents, one was a Cabinet secretary, and one was a U.S. Senator.

from wikipedia....

so cite a source or name names and you will educate me

[thecodont]

Obama will be treated the same.

I pray you're right!

[BradyLS]

The irony is that Obama got his first pick, Sotomayor, over the hurdle and so could thumb his nose at his old Harvard buddy. (”Look what I did! Nyah!”)

After Sotomayor, Kagan was a slam dunk, so he could afford some largesse for his old buddy.

Thanks to RINOs like Graham, we’ll be stuck with those two albatrosses for a looong time.

[SatinDoll]

The problem with your request is as follows: the record of these two individuals was obliterated as though they had never been in the Senate. Possibly further complicating matters, usurpers are never impeached, at least they are not at the present time.

One of the two above later became a U.S. citizen, was eligible to run for office and returned to the Senate,

I will place a telephone call to the Senate Historical Office tomorrow unless you prefer to do the deed yourself. The number is 1(202)224-6900.

And a note of warning: Wikipedia is wildly undependable as an information source, particularly when it comes to a controversial political subject like non-citizen ‘usurpers’.

[eater-of-toast]

He’s a such a notorious left-winger, he has to know Republican Judiciary Committee members would have no truck with him. Well, I bet Specter would have, but his days as a “Republican” are past.

[SatinDoll]

“Actual impeachments of 19 federal officers have taken place...and one was a U.S. Senator.”

According to the Senate Historical Office, no Senators have ever been impeached. They are expelled.

However, one Senator, William Blunt of Tennessee, was going to be impeached for treason but was expelled instead so the impeachment proceedings were dropped.

The person I spoke with, Berry Koed, was unable to tell me who specifically were usurpers prevented from taking seats in the Senate. Sorry.

The person who originally told me about these two usurpers was a historian and an acquaintance of good repute. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any written evidence I can find to verify that information. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist — only that I can’t locate it at this time.

[Dogbert41]

That would be awesome!