Posted on 05/26/2009 8:21:46 AM PDT by bdeaner
And does it matter?
If she is, that would make Catholics six for nine of the high court. The five current Catholic justices are already an all-time high. Anyone want to go for a sweep?
On the other hand, if she is Catholic (she is divorced, without kids), she may want to keep it quiet, as she'll be a huge target--and guess who'll be lobbing most of the heavy ordinance.
But who knows? One of the intriguing mysteries of Obama's first pick for the Supreme Court--she would also be the first Hispanic and just the third woman on the bench--is whether she is Catholic, or practices the faith, or some other.
Sotomayor was born in the Bronx (cheer!) to parents from Puerto Rico, and she attended Catholic schools. From a May 14 New York Times profile:
Judge Sotomayor, 54, grew up in a Bronx housing project, a child of Puerto Rican parents. She would be the court's first Hispanic justice.
Her father died when she was 9, leaving her mother to raise her and a brother. In speeches to Latino groups over the years, Judge Sotomayor has recalled how her mother worked six days a week as a nurse to send her and her brother to Catholic school, purchased the only set of encyclopedias in the neighborhood and kept a warm pot of rice and beans on the stove every day for their friends.
She loved Nancy Drew mysteries, she once said, and yearned to be a police detective. But a doctor who diagnosed her childhood diabetes suggested that would be difficult. She traded her adoration of Nancy for an allegiance to Perry -- she became a fan of Perry Mason on television, she said, and decided to become a lawyer.
She went to Princeton, which she has described as a life-changing experience. When she arrived on campus from the Bronx, she said it was like "a visitor landing in an alien country." She never raised her hand in her first year there. "I was too embarrassed and too intimidated to ask questions," Judge Sotomayor said.
But as a federal appeals court judge, she has issued few rulings on issues like abortion.
A Washington Post profile today says that because she never had children of her own she feels like her clerks are her kids.
But back to the original question: Dies it matter if she is Catholic, practicing or lapsed? There are Catholics and there are Catholics. And besides, she is a judge interpreting the Constitution.
Antonin Scalia, who is seen as a favorite of a certain segment of conservative Catholicism, has been forthright in stating that he would never make decisions on the basis of his faith. As he said in an address at Villanova Law School in October 2007, parsed by Robert Miller et al at First Things:
"There is no such thing as a 'Catholic judge.' The bottom line is that the Catholic faith seems to me to have little effect on my work as a judge...Just as there is no 'Catholic' way to cook a hamburger, I am hard pressed to tell you of a single opinion of mine that would have come out differently if I were not Catholic."
So...?
If she's Catholic a liberal, she's a CINO for sure.
Well, the only ruling I see regarding abortion was reported on CNN:
• Abortion (Mexico City policy): Sotomayor ruled against an abortion rights group in its challenge to the so-called "Mexico City Policy," which states that nations that receive U.S. funds may neither perform nor promote abortions. The abortion rights advocates alleged that the policy violated their First Amendment, due process, and equal protection rights. Sotomayor upheld a lower court ruling dismissing the case, saying that the group's First Amendment rights had not been violated and that it had not been denied due process. On the equal protection claim, Sotomayor wrote, "The Supreme Court has made clear that the government is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds." Sotomayor did not address the underlying abortion issue. Center for Reproductive Law and Policy vs. Bush, 304 F.3d 183 (2002)
Having said that, you know she's got to be pro-homosexual, pro-abortion...otherwise Bambi wouldn't have appointed her in the first place.
Just looking for the evidence of the same. (Though the language she is reported using above is clear pro-abort language)
Pinging some others who might have additional information on her abortion record.
Hey, Barney Frank, a Catholic and a woman. Two things that repulse you. Heh heh.
OTOH She introduced her brother, SIL, their children, her mother and step father and she was once married.....A family that practices marriage between genders.
She is very likely NOT a Catholic, regardless of if she was ever baptized, sent to church, etc...
YOur pint seems contradictory? The fact is she upheld the right of our government to refuse to promote pro-abortion policy.
What matters is what the US government thinks—does it count Brazilian-Americans or immigrants from the Azores as Hispanic? This is America—what you think your ethnic or racial identity is doesn’t matter, it’s what the government decides it is. (Hence the invention of “Hispanic” to begin with.)
I think James F. Byrnes, Supreme Court justice 1941-1942, was a former Catholic. That may have been one of the reasons he was not picked as FDR’s running mate in 1944 (but maybe the fact that he was from South Carolina was more important).
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