The Judiciary

I wrote about Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) here last week, wondering if any Senate Republicans would back him up after he became the first GOP senator to reject the "racist" label Rush Limbaugh and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) had slapped on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Yesterday's New York Times points out that Cornyn is "a conservative former Texas Supreme Court justice" who could "make a tough intellectual case against Judge Sotomayor." Read more...

Yesterday, the Alliance for Justice celebrated its 30th anniversary before a packed hall in Washington. A film showed some of its three-decades-long highlights. Speakers congratulated the now-venerable organization’s successes, and the audience warmed to the oncoming battle over Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Read more...

According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, most U.S. voters strongly disagree with Sonia Sotomayer’s position on the New Haven, Conn., firefighters case.

This comes as no surprise to me, and as faithful readers of this blog will attest, last week I plotted a strategy to make the most of this real GOP advantage.

Of course, that strategy was overwhelmed by the idiotic discussion, led by that brilliant Republican strategist Rush Limbaugh, who called the Hispanic Supreme Court nominee a “racist.” Read more...

You have to love these Republicans as they approach the Supreme Court hearings for Sonia Sotomayor.

Right out of the box you have the usual right-wing cabal spewing forth hateful venom. Comparing her to the Ku Klux Klan, calling her a racist, issuing condescending remarks about her intellectual heft. In a 24/7 news cycle and cabal blather that encourages the most outrageous comments imaginable, because they make “news,” these attacks are over the top. Read more...

The Sotomayor issue defaults not so much to law as to literature. It is not about Race but The Others. That she would identify herself as Latina, woman, New York Puerto Rican — the pundits recall poet Miguel Piñero’s phrase Nuyorican — while she would see The Others — Rick Perry, John Lennon, Tolstoy, Charles Aznavour, the Pope, TinTin, William Butler Yeats, Dick Morris, St. Francis, Picasso, Richard Petty, Stanley Dunham, Jimmy Swaggart, Old McDonald and Dr. Porsche — as a soulless and generic bunch of white guys all packaged in the same crate shows a mind with the subtle and nuanced sensibilities of a granite field marker. Read more...

The Hill's A.B. Stoddard answers viewer questions about issues surrounding the Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, and how President Obama should handle closing the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp.

The following appears originally in The Washington Times of Monday, June 1.

Suppose a black female nurse is seriously injured during her work at a hospital and is forced to take a medical leave of absence. When she returns almost a year later, she reapplies for new jobs but doesn't get any offers of comparable salary and seniority. For one of the jobs for which she was turned down, two white women with disabilities are chosen. For another job for which she was rejected, a younger white male is hired. Read more...

It has been interesting to read in the news and on this blog about Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and his surprising defense of Sonia Sotomayor. John Feehery called him a "superstar" and A.B. Stoddard frames it as "Cornyn Throws Down the Gauntlet." Those of us in Texas know a little better.

Other than realizing it's bad politics, he's at least savvy enough to realize you don't champion people who call a smart Latina a racist, even if she is from New York, when you come from a state that's more than 36 percent Hispanic. Sen. Cornyn's views on immigration are far from soft, but taking a swipe at someone on your right saves you from having to move to your left. Is it possible the least intelligent senator from Texas is smarter than the leadership of the Republican Party? Read more...

Hello, class — Welcome to SCOTUS Summer School of Rock! I am so happy you are here. Although I am sure most of you would rather be at the beach, sailing, fishing, playing cards or doing just about anything else other than sitting around memorizing definitions, I am sure we are going to have a wonderful summer together. And if we all keep with up our book-learnin’ this summer, I am sure we can finagle a few special field trips to the Capitol and catch a little of that Supreme Court confirmation hearing action, just to spice things up a bit.

But first things first. Read more...