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Federal Bench: Yet another judicial nominee seeks to impose the "empathy" standard on the courts. He thinks judges should base rulings on a plaintiff's status, legislate from the bench and amend the Constitution. Indiana federal judge David Hamilton stands poised to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to assume a seat on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals serving Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. He's a former fundraiser for Acorn and a former leader of the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He is also another in a series of activist judges who believe the U.S. Constitution is not...

Sonia Sotomayor heeded White House advice to paint her fingernails a neutral shade during her Supreme Court confirmation process — up to a point. At a White House reception after her confirmation, Sotomayor showed her freshly painted red nails to President Barack Obama, along with her red-and-black semi-hoop earrings, according to an article in the new issue of Latina magazine to be released Nov. 17. Obama joked that Sotomayor had been briefed on proper nail color and earring size. "Mr. President, you have no idea what you've unleashed," Sotomayor replied, according to the article by her close friend Sandra Guzman,...

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's nomination process was so controlled that the White House even approved her clothes, she told Yalies when she appeared at her 30th Yale Law School reunion on Saturday. Sotomayor described her grueling nomination process privately when she spoke to 1,800 alumni, students and faculty, the New Haven Register reports.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's nomination process was so controlled that the White House even approved her clothes, she told Yalies when she appeared at her 30th Yale Law School reunion on Saturday. Sotomayor described her grueling nomination process privately when she spoke to 1,800 alumni, students and faculty , the New Haven Register reports. State Sen. Ed Meyer attended the event and said Sotomayor became teary at times, but kept the crowd laughing. The Yale Law School grad talked about shopping for clothes to wear to her acceptance ceremony, but government officials took over the fashion decisions. They told...

“Desperate” Impact? by: Brittany Fortier, October 13, 2009 As the Supreme Court begins a new session, the Cato Institute held its 8th annual Constitution Day Conference and Supreme Court Review on September 17, 2009. This day also marked the 222nd anniversary of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, and panelists discussed whether the Supreme Court decisions of the previous year were faithful to the intentions of our Founding Fathers. Roger Clegg, President and General Counsel for the Center for Equal Opportunity, called the “disparate impact” approach to civil rights law used by the Court in cases such as Ricci v....

Highlights of some high-profile cases that the Supreme Court will take up in its term that begins Monday (10/5/09): _Guns: The Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms has never been held to apply to state and local laws restricting guns. The court is taking up a challenge to a handgun ban in Chicago to decide whether this right, like many others in the Bill of Rights, acts to restrict state and local laws or only federal statutes. If the court sides with gun rights supporters, lawsuits to overturn all manner of gun control laws are likely. _Animal cruelty...

Before it was known that the 2016 Olympics had been awarded to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and that Chicago had been knocked out of the selection process in the first round of voting despite President President Obama's whirlwind visit to Olympic authorities in Copenhagen, Denmark, Glenn Beck led his audience through an exercise in calculated absurdity. He asked, "What Would Sotomayor Do?" -- a reference to the new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. His point was this: what would a hardcore, race-obsessed leftist like Justice Sotomayor do if given the chance to decide which major world city should host the...

Fronting the pews at this morning's Red Mass in DC's St Matthew's Cathedral: the nation's First Catholic -- Vice-President Joe Biden -- joined by six Supreme Court Justices, including the bench's Chief John Roberts and newest member Sonia Sotomayor, both likewise of the fold. While the fulltext has yet to emerge, the wire's running a snip from the day's visiting preacher: The specialized, formal knowledge of the law "frequently becomes semi-mechanical, even distancing," [Cardinal Daniel] DiNardo [of Galveston-Houston] told the congregation. "The law and lawyers are around because justice among human beings will always be an issue." "Even sophisticated,...

Gun Control: The Supreme Court agrees to decide if the Second Amendment applies to all of us, or just Washington, D.C. Why would the Founders put in the Bill of Rights something applying only to a federal enclave? In a 5-4 decision last year written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court overturned a draconian District of Columbia gun ban enacted 32 years ago that barred private ownership of handguns at all. Scalia wrote that an individual's right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted. The court ruled that...

Just saw the tail end of the Sotomayor throwing out the pitch to Molina. I wonder if she underhanded it? Any video?

NEW YORK — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is coming off the bench — and heading to the mound at Yankee Stadium. Sotomayor, a Yankees fan from the Bronx, is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch Saturday before New York's game against Boston.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama told a Hispanic gathering on Wednesday that the proudest moment of his presidency was when Justice Sonia Sotomayor became the nation’s first Latina member of the Supreme Court.“ -SNIP- “Our own royalty, somebody who we have become so extraordinarily proud of, somebody who I’ve just come to adore, and who is somebody who’s going to make us proud for many, many years to come, because she’s not term-limited, the newest justice of the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor,” he said.-SNIP- J.Lo looked slender and stunning in a figure-hugging nude dress during the day. Later, she changed...

WASHINGTON -- In her maiden Supreme Court appearance last week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor made a provocative comment that probed the foundations of corporate law. During arguments in a campaign-finance case, the court's majority conservatives seemed persuaded that corporations have broad First Amendment rights and that recent precedents upholding limits on corporate political spending should be overruled. But Justice Sotomayor suggested the majority might have it all wrong -- and that instead the court should reconsider the 19th century rulings that first afforded corporations the same rights flesh-and-blood people have. Judges "created corporations as persons, gave birth to corporations as persons,"...

A legal advocacy group advised by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in the 1980s actively opposed conservative Robert H. Bork's nomination to the high court calling him a "threat" to the "civil rights of the Latino community." The Senate went on to reject President Reagan's nominee in 1987. The revelation is included in 350 pages of documents the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund delivered to the senators late Tuesday evening. Judge Sotomayor worked for PRLDEF in various capacities from 1980 until she became a federal judge in 1992, spending most of her time as a board member. The...

Link to AP story on yahoo

Sotomayor takes her place on high court bench Courtroom onlookers included mother, brother, and singer Ricky Martin J. Scott Applewhite / AP The Supreme Court's newest member, Sonia Sotomayor, left, is escorted by Chief Justice John Roberts following her investiture ceremony at the Supreme Court in Washington on Tuesday. WASHINGTON - Justice Sonia Sotomayor has taken her seat at the Supreme Court in front of a packed courtroom that included President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. The ceremony Tuesday was just for show. Sotomayor and the rest of the court will return Wednesday for the argument in a...

Thank you for writing to me regarding the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. I appreciate hearing from you, and I welcome the opportunity to respond. The nomination of a Supreme Court Justice requires the Senate to engage in a serious and historic debate. As a member of the Senate who also serves on the Judiciary Committee, I consider my Constitutional role to review Supreme Court nominees to be among my foremost and gravest responsibilities. Judge Sotomayor has a 17-year record as a solid, tested, and mainstream Federal judge. She...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will cut short its summer break in early September to hear a new argument in a momentous case that could transform the way political campaigns are conducted. The case, which arises from a minor political documentary called “Hillary: The Movie,” seemed an oddity when it was first argued in March. At issue is whether the court should overrule a 1990 decision, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which upheld restrictions on corporate spending to support or oppose political candidates. The court’s order calling for re-argument, issued in June, has generated more than 40 friend-of-the-court briefs....

Here is video of a confrontation between LaRaza members and anti-ObamaCare protesters outside Democrat Rep. Gene Green's Town Hall Meeting in the Houston, Texas area on August 18, 2009. The video shows some of the Town Hall Meeting inside in the first couple of minutes, but then moves outside where a young LaRaza member wrapped in what appears to be a Mexican flag begins swearing at anti-ObamaCare protesters. It eventually escalates to where he begins pushing and shoving at them and is arrested by the police and carried away. The video ends showing other LaRaza activists shouting at the protesters...

During the presidential campaign Barack Obama declared, with no inadvertence, that among the furnishings of mind he would seek in an appointment to the Supreme Court is a keen sense of empathy for the less privileged in this country. And sure enough, now that he is president, his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor reveals a man more inclined to play on the clichés of identity politics than to seek a jurist who could stand on the intellectual plane of those we admire on the Supreme Court. Conservative commentators have been scathing in their reactions to a jurisprudence that takes its bearings...

A few weeks ago the Weekly Standard had a ridiculously hopeful editorial about how President Obama couldn't possibly go any further to the left with his next SCOTUS pick because of the ideological basis upon which they sold Justice Sotomayor. For the Standard, Terry Eastland was sure that the logic by which Sotomayor was sold to the country would preclude a shift leftward for the next court pick. Unfortunately, Eastland proved once again that too many conservatives simply do not understand that liberalism does not rely on logic or consistency , it simply barrels forward with no heed to reason....

Justice Sotomayor’s first vote on the Supreme Court yesterday was to stay the execution of an unquestionably guilty hitman that even Ohio’s Democratic governor wanted to go forward. (It did; she and the liberal activist bloc lost the vote.) Who's surprised? Sotomayor boosters tried to paint her as a tough-on-crime former prosecutor to counteract her radical-left, anti-death-penalty activism during her days with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Remember Joe Biden assuring law enforcement she "has your back"? Remember the White House continually highlighting her work for New York City DA Robert Morgenthau? Remember her supporters touting that...

Newly seated Justice Sonia Sotomayor has cast her first recorded vote on the Supreme Court, joining a dissent by three liberal justices to stop a pending execution in Ohio. The full court turned down the last-minute appeal from lawyers for Jason Getsy late Monday evening by a 5-4 vote. Getsy, 33 and a convicted hit man, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 8 a.m. Pacific time today.

PRO-GUN LAWMAKERS ON THE SPOT Senators supporting Sonia Sotomayor knew they would anger gun-rights groups. If they voted against her, however, they would disappoint many Hispanic voters. Here is how they ended up voting: • Republicans for Sotomayor: Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Richard Lugar of Indiana • Republicans against Sotomayor: John Ensign of Nevada, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, John McCain of Arizona • Democrats for Sotomayor: Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Harry Reid of Nevada, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania Source: Congressional Record WASHINGTON — On the surface, it looks like it's been a bad...

WASHINGTON — On the surface, it looks like it's been a bad month for gun-rights groups. First, the Senate narrowly defeated an attempt to allow Americans with concealed-weapons permits to carry their firearms across state lines. Then Second Amendment advocacy organizations pressed senators to oppose Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, only to see more than a dozen gun-rights backers support President Barack Obama's choice. Despite the setbacks, however, there's little gloom among gun-rights advocates. And the reason is simple: These tough battles are helping them separate politicians who are merely strong supporters of gun rights and those who are 100...

President Barack Obama has a beaming smile as he arrives with new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor during a reception in her honor, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama reaches around the head dress of Chief Joseph Medicine Crow to place a 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama presents the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Chita Rivera, who, as a Puerto Rican-American, broke barriers as an...

*** .....would Democrats have given a courteous reception to a Republican nominee who stated over several years that white males are better able to render justice than Hispanic females. NAMES REDACTED Cincinnati *** Whether she becomes a woman of lasting judicial impact and authority remains to be seen. Manhattan *** I don't recall cheers coming from white males when John Roberts was confirmed. But, then again, he's not a wise Latina. Astoria *** The Supreme Court applies the Constitution, not celebrate culture and life experiences. Sotomayor's track record shows judicial usurpation instead of judicial jurisprudence. Brooklyn *** ......... a writer...

During his recent HBO special, "Tall, Dark and Chicano," comedian George Lopez tore a hole in the Big Tent. Incensed that 31 Senate Republicans had voted against Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, Lopez informed the GOP that it would never again get the votes of Latinos. In fact, he said, given changing demographics, Republicans might as well get used to losing in the years to come because "you won't win a . . . pie-eating contest." That's harsh, but fair. Republicans know not what they did. They're only fooling themselves if they think they won't pay a price...

When Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was explaining his decision to become one of the nine Republicans to support the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, he said it was made easier because she would not alter the ideological balance on the Supreme Court. Having her replace Justice David Souter, a regular member of the liberal bloc, would not tilt the court further in that direction, he said. With all due respect to a senator I very much admire, I think he may underestimate the impact of having Sotomayor on the high court. Certainly, there is a world of difference...

(English-language translation) Yesterday's media headlines in Puerto Rico and the United States leave no room for doubt over the historical impact the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the 111th justice to join the United States Supreme Court has. The fact that the judge, the daughter of Puerto Rican parents, is the third woman to reach the highest court in the U.S. is in itself historic. In addition, however, she is the first member of the Hispanic community to join this body which interprets the application of the American Constitution. This factor is a transcendental step in making the Supreme...

Make no mistake about it Sonia Sotomayor’s presences on the Supreme Court is primary about Race and Sex politics but secondarily its about changing America in ways that you’ve never thought of (more on that later). Just read the headlines mostly every last one report that she is the Courts first Hispanic justice and that she is female. Most of the reporting to date has been about her Latina life story while hardly any of the reporting has been analysis on what makes Sotomayor the best choice out of all of the possible picks that a president could have selected...

I know HBO probably isn't really looked upon to highly around here (love trueblood, enterouge) But if anybody saw last night's stand up. As a conservative I have never felt more attacked in my life. As usual we were all accused of being racist for opposing Sotomayor....i mean forget the fact that she actually uses race as motivation for her rulings and basically ignores the constitution....it has to be racist why we oppose her... i mean lets all forget how the left treated Gonzelez under the Bush administration....that couldn't be racist... As a half latin person i'm amazed at how...

HELLO!? Is this thing on? Good! Listen! Don't vote for Sarah Palin In 2012! America is attacked in 2013 she uses FEMA to lock up her oppenents and then takes over the world! Also they find a cure for Down syndrome and Trig becomes a brutal dictator killing billions! This helps Michelle Obama XII Become intergalactic dictator. Please don't vote for... OMG! Someones coming!

The 31 Republican senators who voted against Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation deserve credit for standing firmly against a nominee who has an unsound judicial philosophy and who failed to testify candidly about it. Given the large Democratic majority in the Senate, Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation was a virtual certainty from the moment that President Obama nominated her. The easy path for Senate Republicans — the path they took in 1993 and 1994 on President Clinton’s nominations of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer — would have been to cave to that political reality and to jump on the Sotomayor bandwagon. Indeed,...

(Text is from snail mail "The Legal Alert" publication, a monthly publication of CLA) Please pray for Justice Sonya Sotomayor as she begins her service on the United States Supreme Court. Although Pres. Obama appointed her because she would be "empathetic", i.e., would rule based on her feelings rather than following the law, during her confirmation hearings, Justice Sotomayor repudiated the President's view of the law and said she did not believe that judges should make law from teh bench or issue rulings based on feelings of empathy.In fact, as she was questioned by members of the Senate Judiciary commttee,...

WASHINGTON -- Sonia Sotomayor, her family and friends are gathering at the Supreme Court for her swearing-in as the court's first Hispanic, third woman and 111th justice. Chief Justice John Roberts is to preside Saturday at two ceremonies that will officially make Sotomayor a high court justice. Sotomayor, 55, has been a federal judge for 17 years. President Barack Obama nominated her in May to take the place of Justice David Souter, who has retired. The Senate confirmed Sotomayor's nomination Thursday by a 68-31 vote. Before she can begin her new job, though, she has to take two oaths. In...

Supreme Court: The 31 senators who voted against Justice Sonia Sotomayor may get grief now, but time is on their side. Their reservations will be proved to be right on the money.Saturday will be forever marked as the historic day on which the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice was sworn in. The Senate on Thursday voted 68-31 to confirm President Obama's first pick for the high court. In the coming months and years, however, we are likely to see something else historic unfold, bringing into question the integrity of our system of checks and balances. The new justice's record of...

The confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday will impact this nation for decades, on issues ranging from free speech to racial preferences to gun rights. It will also become a major issue in the 2010 midterm elections and the 2012 presidential election, an issue that more likely than not will backfire on Barack Obama to the benefit of the Republican Party. Barack Obama was looking for a big political win from the Sotomayor confirmation. He chose a Hispanic woman with an interesting personal story. His staff and congressional allies then tried to make this nomination...

Sonia Sotomayor is a groundbreaking nominee for the Supreme Court who defies easy pigeonholing. She's a tough-minded former prosecutor who's denounced the death penalty. She's a product of South Bronx public housing who excelled in the Ivy League. Sotomayor, tough-minded yet true to her roots, defies simple labeling Sonia Sotomayor is a groundbreaking nominee for the Supreme Court who defies easy pigeonholing. She's a tough-minded former prosecutor who's denounced the death penalty. She's a product of South Bronx public housing who excelled in the Ivy League. Sotomayor picks up more GOP support with vote nearSupreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor picked...

Researchers in the Department of Political Science at the University of Tennessee are predicting that newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will cast a liberal vote in roughly two-thirds of cases during her first term. The prediction, if accurate, would make her the most liberal member of the current court.

Olympia Snowe said today that her Republican colleagues' pending "no" votes on Sonia Sotomayor raise "a serious concern" about alienating their Hispanic constituencies. The Maine moderate was among the first GOP lawmakers to say she would vote yes, joining Mel Martinez of Florida and Richard Lugar of Indiana on July 17. Snowe told reporters that voting for Sotomayor "would have certainly been an avenue for appealing to the Hispanic community, where we did poorly in the last election. I think we can ill afford to lose their support in the future when we're attempting to rebuild the Republican Party nationally,"...

The Senate confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court yesterday. Gun-control groups are crowing that the 68-31 vote was a major defeat for the National Rifle Association, which actively opposed the nomination. The gun controllers are reading too much into this vote. The NRA scored Judge Sotomayor's confirmation and ran ads to defeat her, but the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence counted eight NRA-endorsed senators who spurned the powerful gun-rights group to support her nomination. Some Democratic senators, such as Virginia's Mark R. Warner, even took to lecturing the NRA about being hijacked by extremists. The Sotomayor vote...

"Most Eminently Qualified Jurist In A Half A Century" Geraldo on O'Reilly Fox News on Sotomayor and "Bush v. Gore is the most activist decision in the history of the Republic" Will someone please rush a team of psychiatrists to examine this guy! He needs to be evaluated at the university level.

On Thursday, 59 Democrats voted for Sotomayor while 31 Republicans voted against her. "The nine Senate Republicans who voted to confirm her were Sens. George Voinovich of Ohio, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Kit Bond of Missouri, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Mel Martinez of Florida, Richard Lugar of Indiana and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee."

Link only, per FR copyright and excerpt rules

Here is video of President Obama making a brief statement after the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court today following a 68-31 vote of the U.S. Senate. Obama said he is "pleased" and "deeply gratified" at her confirmation. Obama said her confirmation is a great "achievement" for America, alluding to the fact that she is the first Hispanic ever the sit on the High Court. . . . . . (Watch Video)

"For all you “conservatives” who kept insisting that there was NO difference between John McCain and Barack Hussein Obama, this is all your fault! You have no one but yourselves to blame when this Wise Latina (in other words, Aztlanist shill) legislates from the bench. To his credit, John McCain at least opposed Sotomayor’s nomination. " [I have a different take on this. Conservatives were absolutely justified in opposing the "pro-amnesty" rino John McCain. Those of us who did choose to vote for the ticket, voted for Palin, not McCain. If it were not for her, McCain would have been...

The Senate on Thursday sent Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court with a modest display of bipartisan support, making her the first Hispanic justice and only the third woman to serve on the high court. The 68-31 vote held few surprises, as a small band of Republicans joined Democrats in confirming her 72 days after President Barack Obama nominated the former prosecutor and judge. Her confirmation paves the way for Sotomayor to begin assembling her staff and prepare for the court to convene in October.

Votes presently Ds= 69 Rs = 31 ______________ Pubbies: Vitter Alexander Martinez so far voting AYE!

And then there were nine. Senator George V. Voinovich of Ohio on Thursday became the ninth Republican senator to announce his support for the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor.