Thursday, May 28, 2009

Top Nomination News

• "Senate Republicans have yet to decide how tough they will be in grilling Judge Sonia Sotomayor in her confirmation hearings, but this is clear: The Supreme Court nominee already has shown an ability to withstand rigorous questioning," the Washington Post reports.

• "Sotomayor launched her Senate outreach campaign" Wednesday "through phone calls to key Democrats and Republicans and will begin face-to-face meetings when lawmakers return to the Capitol next week," the Post's 44 blog reports.

• Another Post blog, The Fix, reports on five senators who could play important roles in the upcoming confirmation process but who aren't the main leaders on this issue.

• "Many lawyers and scholars who have examined her record closely say that her" appellate opinions "are unpredictable, and do not put her clearly in a pro- or anti-business camp," the New York Times reports.

• The Wall Street Journal reports on how the concept of "legal realism" factors into Sotomayor's judicial philosophy.

• "In the months leading up to" Sotomayor's selection, "the White House methodically labored to apply lessons from years of nomination battles to control the process and avoid the pitfalls of the past, like appearing to respond to pressure from the party's base or allowing candidates to be chewed up by friendly fire," the New York Times reports.

• If Sotomayor is confirmed, "she will be only the twelfth Roman Catholic justice in history," the Blog of Legal Times reports. "But what is remarkable is that six of those 12, if you include her, will be on the Court that convenes in October."

• The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog conducts a Q&A with Douglas Kmiec, a former GOP White House adviser, on the Catholic factor.

• "Sotomayor, already facing bitter criticism from gun rights advocates for an appeals court decision she joined last January, may have to choose whether to take part when the constitutional issue at stake comes up before the Supreme Court (assuming that she is confirmed)," SCOTUSblog reports. "As of now, the first case in line on that issue is the one on which she ruled as a judge of the Second Circuit Court -- Maloney v. Cuomo."

• "Both parties braced for a summertime confirmation battle over" Sotomayor, "with the White House gathering a team to push her through, and conservative critics sharpening attacks on her past speeches and writings," the Wall Street Journal reports.

• "A perennial subject -- abortion -- surfaced again as a question mark and an emblem of other controversial topics, worrying some traditionally liberal groups that the White House may be too intent on portraying Sotomayor as an independent moderate," the Washington Post reports.

• "Newt Gingrich has called on" Sotomayor "to withdraw her nomination," CQ's Legal Beat reports.

Commentary after the jump

Commentary

• The Supreme Court confirmation process "has long been mired in the culture wars" President Obama "has pledged to move beyond -- a pledge that his choice of Sotomayor is carefully calibrated to respect," the Financial Times argues.

• "The strongest case to be made for Sotomayor is the idea that the range of her experience -- as a trial judge, appellate judge, and commercial litigator -- might give her the humility to recognize that courts participate in a dialogue with the political branches when it comes to defining constitutional rights, rather than having the last word," Jeffrey Rosen maintains.

• In the New York Daily News, Robert Morgenthau, district attorney for New York County, charges that people criticizing Sotomayor as a "radical" or an "activist" don't know her at all.

• E. J. Dionne Jr. believes that Obama "was drawn to" Sotomayor "not simply because the politics of naming the first Latina justice were irresistible, but also because he saw her as the precise opposite of Chief Justice John Roberts."

• "The main question about her confirmation is the choice it presents to Republicans," David S. Broder says. "They are unlikely to defeat or even delay her elevation."

• "Democrats will win the vote, but Republicans can win the argument by making a clear case against the judicial activism she represents," Karl Rove argues.

• Dana Milbank doesn't think White House press secretary Robert Gibbs is being very forthright about Sotomayor's "wise Latina woman" comment.

• Margaret Carlson sees this nomination as an "opportunity for the opposition to display its wares. But" Obama "pitched a fast ball, low and inside, leaving only the party's truest believers itching for a fight."

• The Los Angeles Times wants the Senate's Republican minority to accord Sotomayor "the same respect it demanded for" George W. Bush's "nominees and end the tiresome tit-for-tat that has cheapened the confirmation of federal judges."

• "Some Senate Republicans may be tempted to allow Judge Sotomayor to be confirmed without much scrutiny," Gary Bauer, president of American Values, writes in the Washington Times. "They should resist that temptation.... Republican senators have an obligation to scrutinize the nominee's judicial record and philosophy."

• New York Times columnists David Brooks and Gail Collins have an online conversation about Sotomayor's nomination and judicial philosophy.