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In calling Roe v. Wade “settled law,” Sotomayor affirmed a woman’s right to choose based on the Supreme Court’s decision. Here are a few other Supreme Court decisions that, in the past, could have equally been called “settled law”: Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) – Against the backdrop of growing tension between sections of the United States, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of a slave who, having lived with his master in a free state for a period of time, wished to be considered a free man. The Supreme Court heard the case and ruled against the enslaved...

Her appointment could further shrink the property rights of homeowners and small businesses, says law professor Ilya Somin in an editorial. Somin says that Sotomayor takes the Supreme Court's controversial 5-to-4 Kelo decision, which allowed homes to be seized for the benefit of developers, and expands it beyond even what the Supreme Court intended:

July 14, 2009 Fred Thompson: Judicial Hearings a Waste of Time Former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson explains why he believes that the Senate confirmation hearings are largely a waste of time. He believes they are only used to try and get the nominees to commit gaffes.

" ... Franken told Sotomayor that she was "the most experienced Supreme Court nominee in 100 years." He said her story is inspirational and one in which "all Americans should take great pride in ..."

WASHINGTON -- Opponents of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court suggested they would consider it a victory if more than half of the Senate's 40 Republicans voted against her in this week's confirmation hearing, as the GOP grapples with how aggressively to challenge the nominee. Many Republicans said they viewed 23 "no" votes as a benchmark, because that would be one more than Chief Justice John Roberts received in 2005 and would reflect a significant protest vote. Others said that if the Senate GOP were to split roughly in half, that would signal support to conservatives who oppose...

On her most recent program, leftist MSNBC host Rachel Maddow summed up all conservative and Republican opposition to Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination for Supreme Court Justice as nothing more than a “campaign” that “is substantially about race.” “Thus far,” Maddow sneered, “Republicans have attacked [Sotomayor's] ‘Wise Latina’ comment, they have called her an affirmative action nominee, [and] they have singled out her ruling in an affirmative-action discrimination case.” And for good measure, added Maddow, “[t]hey have chosen to inveigh against [Sotomayor's] work for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.”

No doubt the liberal Journo List of bloggers, reporters, and columnists thought this up. It's just their speed - smearing a private citizen who gets in the way of their agenda. In this case, the victim is firefighter Frank Ricci from New Haven, CT who sued after he was denied promotion when test results were thrown out because no minority fire fighter passed. This case was going to be a prime topic of testimony during the upcoming Sotomayor confirmation hearings and the liberals want to make sure that Ricci can't damage the far left judge's chances.

So the Sotomayor confirmation hearings begin and we now get to see if the Republicans will just roll over and wag their tail, as they have proven to do over the years, or actually grow a pair and take her and her racist beliefs head on. Technically it won't matter, since she has the votes anyway, but during the tenor of the last Democrat President we got Ginsburg and Breyer. Two horrible, ultra-liberal, justices and how many Republicans voted no on them? 3 and 9 respectively. With Sotomayor there is no reason for any Republican to vote yes on someone...

Here is video from the NAACP Convention this weekend where they issued a warning to Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions that he should "tone down his rhetoric" about Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor, whose confirmation hearings begin today. Sessions is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and will have opportunity to question Sotomayor. The NAACP essentially told Sessions "we are watching you," and are seeking to cow him into silence. It won't work. Jeff Sessions is a man of tremendous character and integrity. He won't be intimidated by the radical NAACP, an organization with a proud history, but one that...

The leading Judiciary Committee Republican is charging that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is "out of the mainstream" of legal thinking and has a very activist judicial profile. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama made the assertion just hours before Sotomayor, who would be the third woman to join the court, was to face her initial confirmation hearing.

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor got a boost on Tuesday in what is expected to be a relatively easy road to Senate confirmation when an influential U.S. lawyer's group gave her its top rating. The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary based its unanimous "well qualified" evaluation on a review of the integrity, competence and judicial temperament of Sotomayor, a federal judge for 17 years who seems headed to become the first Hispanic on the highest U.S. court. "When the Judiciary Committee hearings to consider this nomination begin next week, Americans will hear from Judge Sotomayor herself,...

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2009 – The Senate confirmed Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal yesterday to receive his fourth star and serve as commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. The Senate also confirmed Navy Adm. James Stavridis as commander of U.S. European Command and supreme allied commander for Europe, NATO’s top military post. Air Force Lt. Gen. Douglas M. Fraser was confirmed for promotion to general and to take the post Stavridis will vacate as commander of U.S. Southern Command. All three nominations were confirmed unanimously. McChrystal will succeed Army Gen. David D. McKiernan as...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy announced Tuesday that confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will convene on July 13, considerably earlier than Republicans wanted. Leahy said the date presents a "fair and adequate" schedule that would give members of the committee several more weeks to prepare. President Barack Obama has urged the Senate to vote on confirming Sotomayor to the high court before it leaves for a congressional recess in August. Republicans have pressed for more time to consider the nomination.,p> But Leahy, D-Vt., said there was "no reason to unduly delay consideration of this well-qualified nominee....

...We don't know what the exact grade was, as far as I've seen, but an award-winning history professor -- K.C. Johnson of Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center -- who read it at my request concluded that "the thesis would probably receive an A/A minus or an A minus." (Johnson and I co-authored a 2007 book on the Duke lacrosse rape fraud.) Here is Johnson's detailed assessment: There are also a few jarring elements that contrast to the pedagogical approach. First, I'm curious as to when Sotomayor ceased being a Puerto Rican nationalist who favors independence -- as she says...

In 2001, Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, now a nominee of President Barack Obama for the U.S. Supreme Court, delivered a lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, -- the Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture. Entitled "A Latina Judge's Voice", it included the now notorious statement I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life. Many have already reacted to this statement, condemning what they perceive as manifest racism, or explaining it as...

Leahy: No worries, Sotomayor told me she’d follow the law posted at 4:25 pm on June 2, 2009 by Allahpundit Send to a Friend | Share on Facebook | printer-friendly Small comfort that she’s unwilling to admit outright she’ll be applying The One’s “empathy” standard in close cases. Even those who profess a belief in forms of racial superiority have a limit to what they’ll say publicly, I guess. As for whether The One was correct in insisting that she misspoke when she made her “wise Latina” comment or whether, as anyone who’s thought about it for five seconds would...

Some amused -- OK, irritated and amused -- Republicans on Capitol Hill are sending around a line from the President's radio address today. "What I hope is that we can avoid the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this process, and Congress, in the past," Obama said. Political posturing and ideological brinksmanship? "Anyone know to whom this line was referring?" asks a GOP aide. "Maybe someone involved in the debate on the last Supreme Court nomination? Maybe this?" The "this" that followed was a quote from Sen. Barack Obama on the Samuel Alito nomination. "I will be...

Kenny Rogers’ classic Country hit, “The Gambler,” advises that “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run.” Good advice in both poker and politics. Anyone inclined to gamble a political future on opposing Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination should take heed: this round is one of those times when you’ve got to know when to fold ‘em. Barring the discovery of a major skeleton in her closet, Sotomayor has a lock on the Supreme Court seat.

1. Many legal experts say that the nominations process is a wholly political question and not a question that would ever come before the Supreme Court. Would you agree that a U.S. senator can vote for or against a nominee to the Supreme Court for any reason? 2. Nominees frequently come before the Senate Judiciary Committee and treat the committee questioning of a nominee as a test of how much the nominee knows about the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent. Would you agree that the nomination process should be more than the functional equivalent of a pass fail examination on...

While popular speculation held that President Obama's first Supreme Court vacancies would arise in the seats of two of the most liberal Associate Justices (the nearly post-octogenarian John Paul Stevens and the frail Ruth Bader Ginsburg), it turns out that Associate Justice David Souter (pictured left), a slightly younger liberal member of the Court, is the one providing President Obama with his first nomination opportunity. With Senator Arlen Specter's recent defection to the Democratic Party (Did the wiley Specter possess a bit of insider info about this impending vacancy? He will certainly bask in the limelight of leading from the...