Republicans are trying to turn Judge Sonia Sotomayor's living of the American dream into a negative, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) argued Monday.
Serrano, a fellow Puerto Rican-American and one of Sotomayor's most ardent supporters, said that Sotomayor's upbringing and background are positives -- not negatives -- during a conference call organized by the New Democratic Network.
"I was trying to be nonpartisan here, but let's be honest. It's the Republicans who preach on a daily basis the American dream," Serrano said, referencing his own tough upbringing compared to Sotomayor's, who was raised in a Bronx housing project.
"Can you imagine what it is to get to the Supreme Court? That's a positive," he explained.
Serrano said that Republicans who had criticized Sotomayor's views on race and ethnicity and her comments about how those factors influence her work were out-of-touch with the GOP base.
"It's a loser because even the Republicans, for the most part, do not believe in what they're hearing from the talk shows and from some of their activists because they're not leaders any more," Serrano said. "I just hope that this is not part of a Latino outreach program by the Republicans because it's failing miserably."
Judge Sonia Sotomayor will find trekking around the Senate to win lawmakers' votes a little more difficult after breaking her ankle Monday morning.
President Obama's pick to fill retiring Justice David Souter's spot on the Supreme Court broke her right ankle after stumbling at New York's LaGuardia airport, the Washington Post reported Monday.
Sotomayor will have to use crutches, but intends to make it to all of her meetings on Capitol Hill this afternoon, the Post reported.
"This morning, on the way to Washington, D.C., Judge Sotomayor tripped at LaGuardia Airport. After an X-ray at Medical Faculty Associates, it was determined that Judge Sotomayor has a small fracture in her right ankle," White House Spokesman Ben LaBolt said. "She has been treated and released, and is looking forward to keeping her full schedule of meetings on Capitol Hill this afternoon."
Sotomayor is set to meet today with Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and David Vitter (R-La.).
The Obama administration encouraged the Supreme Court to leave in place its deal to finance a sale of Chrysler LLC to Italian automaker Fiat in a filing Monday.
Solicitor General Elena Kagen said that an application to the Supreme Court by Indiana investors to halt a final deal on Chrysler should be denied.
"Applicants make no meaningful effort to show that either of those findings is wrong, much less to demonstrate that review of those findings is an appropriate use of this Court's resources," Kagen wrote in a 26-page memo submitted to the Court on Monday. "The application for a stay should therefore be denied."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who oversees appeals from the New York area, will decide whether or not to refer the investors' appeal of two lower courts' decisions upholding the Chrysler deal, to the rest of the Court. Should she refer it to the rest of the Court, four of the nine members would have to support scheduling oral arguments on the matter.
In its filing, the Obama administration agrees with the investors' argument that the Chrysler deal was an issue of national economic importance -- but said that's exactly why the court should deny a hearing.
"Applicants are left with the contention that this Court should grant review because the Chrysler bankruptcy is of national importance," Kagen wrote. "As an economic matter, that is true, and blocking the transaction would undoubtedly have grave consequences."
Gingrich modified his previous charge that Sotomayor is racist, now claiming that the nominee's comments were "racialist."
That means, I'd guess, that Gingrich is knocking Sotomayor for putting too much emphasis on race, but not necessarily placing one race above the other.
Former State Department official Walter Kendall Myers and his wife were arrested and indicted Friday for allegedly spying for Cuba since the 1970s.
Myers, a former official in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research who retired in 2007, is said to have worked as an agent of the Cuban Intelligence Service along with his wife, Gwendolyn.
Charges of conspiracy, being an agent of a foreign government, wire fraud, forfeiture, and aiding and abetting were filed against Walter and Gwendolyn Myers in the federal district court for Washington, D.C. on Friday.
"The clandestine activity alleged in the charging documents, which spanned nearly three decades, is incredibly serious and should serve as a warning to any others in the U.S. government who would betray America's trust by serving as illegal agents of a foreign government," Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris said in a statement announcing the indictments.
As a State Department Employee, Myers has had access to some classified information since 1978.
The indictment said that the alleged "conspiracy" persisted from 1979 to "on or about June 4, 2009."
The indictment accuses the couple of working to undermine the day-to-day function of the State Department.
It is not clear whether Gwendolyn Myers had once served as a congressional aide, as had previously been reported.
The detailed indictment unveiled today even goes so far as to say the couple had used shortwave radio and morse code to communicate messages to the Cuban government.
According to the indictment, the FBI had run an undercover sting at a Washington, D.C. hotel against Walter Myers in mid-April of this year.
"These arrests are the culmination of an outstanding counterespionage effort by many agents, analysts and prosecutors who deserve special thanks for their extraordinary work," Kris said.
A federal grand jury brought indictments Friday against the maker of an obscure currency supported by some libertarians.
The U.S. District Court for Western North Carolina indicted four North Carolinians with conspiracy and counterfeit charges stemming from their manufacturing of so-called "Liberty Dollars."
Liberty Dollars are a private currency based on a gold and silver standard, with a purported exchange rate with the U.S. dollar. Its manufacturers say that the U.S. dollar is unreliable due to the effects of national monetary policy.
The feds unsealed a four-count indictment against the currency's lead architect, Bernard von NotHaus, and three other individuals.
Among other charges, the government alleges the organization "did knowingly and unlawfully utter and pass, and attempt to utter and pass, a coin of silver in resemblance of genuine coins of the United States."
The government also seized the private currency as part of the indictment.
Among the seized coins are the $20 dollar mark produced by the group, which features Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), a libertarian icon and monetary policy critic, on its "heads" side.
Only a tiny percentage of the public believes Sonia Sotomayor is a racist, according to a new Research 2000 poll conducted for Daily Kos.
8% of respondents said Sotomayor was a racist, compared with 61% who said she was not.
Of course, the "racist" meme never developed much mainstream traction. John Cornyn has criticized the charge, and Newt Gingrich sort of apologized for his part in the uproar.
Moreover, a majority of respondents, 52%, agreed that "empathy is an important characteristic" for SCOTUS pick. 29% said no.
All in all, 56% have a favorable impression of Sotomayor (including 82% of Latinos), and 29% have an unfavorable opinion.
The conservative blogosphere is abuzz with news that Sonia Sotomayor appears to have announced her political support for Obama just weeks before David Souter announced his resignation.
Sotomayor delivered a speech to the Black, Latino, Asian Pacific American Law Alumni Assocation on April 17, in which she spoke in glowing terms of Obama's victory.
"The power of working together was, this past November, resoundingly proven." (p. 6)
"The wide coalition of groups that joined forces to elect America's first Afro-American President was awe inspiring in both the passion the members of the coalition exhibited in their efforts and the discipline they showed in the execution of their goals." (p. 7)
"On November 4, we saw past our ethnic, religious and gender differences." (p. 10)
"What is our challenge today: Our challenge as lawyers and court related professionals and staff, as citizens of the world is to keep the spirit of the common joy we shared on November 4 alive in our everyday existence." (p. 11)
"It is the message of service that President Obama is trying to trumpet and it is a clarion call we are obligated to heed." (p. 13)
Two questions to keep in mind: (1) Do these remarks simply celebrate the historic nature of Obama's election, or do they demonstrate ideological/political support? (2) Even if they do demonstrate political support, is that a big deal?
As for question one, I think the jury's out. All in all, one can probably surmise from these remarks that Sotomayor probably voted for Obama, but none of the passages display any partisan flare.
Whelan, for his part, thinks "Sotomayor's remarks provide further evidence that she doesn't practice the judicial obligation of impartiality."
I doubt Republican Senators would get much traction criticizing a Hispanic woman for appreciating the election of America's first African American president, but keep an eye on how the "Sotomayor is a partisan Democrat" meme develops in the next few days.
Being tarred as a racist while a nominee for a federal judgeship was a "heartbreaking" experience, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said Friday.
Sessions, now the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, condemned allegations of racism as "loaded" as some members of his own party have used the same work to describe Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
"It was really so heartbreaking to me," Sessions told CNN of his 1986 nomination to a federal judgeship halted by the Senate, which had expressed concerns over Sessions's views on race.
"Those were false charges and distortions of anything that I did," Sessions said. "And it really was not. I never had those kind of views. And I was caricatured in a way that was not me."
Sessions is now leading the Republican vetting of Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination, while some leading voices of the GOP, like former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, have called the Latina nominee a racist.
Sessions recalled when that same claim had been made against him.
"You know, that's a loaded word, and I don't think it's appropriate," he said.
Senate Judiciary Committee member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) strongly defended President Barack Obama's recent, controversial comment that he wanted a Supreme Court nominee with "empathy," saying that Republican critics are deriding a quality most Americans prefer and are only searching for a distraction.
"Empathy is something that most people would like to see in their judges, their doctors, their public officials, in press, and virtually everywhere," Feinstein said.
"Turning it into something that is inherently evil is, I think, a real misinterpretation of what people want," she added. "To me, it's so startling, and it indicates that jurists should only be umpires and count balls and strikes. If that's all it is, you could set up a computer and you wouldn't need a judge... These things are used to move away or create some sense of moral outrage."
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