Can Sotomayor Pass The Biden Test?

23 responses so far

• 1 whospeaksforyou // May 26, 2009 at 10:09 am

  David,

  I hope you’d agree that there are many who disagree with you on, “Clarence Thomas has proven himself a smart, tough, and effective jurist.” He hasn’t spoken or written a word while on the bench for quite some time.

  Then you cite “affirmative action considerations” as motivation for this pick. Are you arguing that because someone is a minority, they are legitimately open to attacks on their qualifications solely because they are a minority? In other words, is it more legitimate to question a minority nominee’s qualifications than a non-minority nominee?

  Finally, if –and this is a big ‘if’– a person is chosen for the court based on factors including ethnicity or gender, does that taint their pick in your eyes? Or is it possible that they could be just as good as a pick made by a President wearing an ethnicity/race/gender blindfold.

  Note: No such blindfold exists unless you happen to be Stephen Colbert (who claims he is racially colorblind.)

• 2 Jeffryw // May 26, 2009 at 10:30 am

  Whospeaks…I think what Frum is saying here is that Biden’s comments were hypocritical and blatently political. It is obvious why she was picked. As Frum points out in an earlier peiece, Obama was looking towards coddling an electoral bloc (hispanics) rather than appointing a fine jurist per se.

  I think you should ask yourself what Frum asks: WOULD SHE PASS THE BIDEN TEST?

  If yes, the Thomas too was qualified and Biden is a hypocrite or worse. If no, then Biden now has the power to help vote down the confirmation of an ethnicity-based nominee. Well? Which is it?

• 3 Jeffryw // May 26, 2009 at 10:55 am

  Can anyone imagine if someone ever said that about Obama (a man much more manifestly unqualified to be president than Thomas was to be in the SCOTUS)?? Why the charges of racist would be flying!

• 4 cporet // May 26, 2009 at 12:29 pm

  Justice Thomas is a “smart, tough, and effective jurist”? Name me three decisions that he authored.

• 5 Egli Ha // May 26, 2009 at 12:40 pm

  PLEASE be respectful! Do not use the phrase “Clarence Thomas”. That phrase is racist and hurtful.

  Call him by his proper name: Long Dong Silver.

• 6 ottovbvs // May 26, 2009 at 1:34 pm

  “It’s two decades later. Clarence Thomas has proven himself a smart, tough, and effective jurist.”

  …….Are you kidding David, Thomas barely ever speaks and is considered the least intellectually strong member of the court by all but the far right. Even my son who is a fairly conservative lawyer and has clerked for a conservative appeals court justice, thinks Thomas is a lightweight.

• 7 king183 // May 26, 2009 at 1:38 pm

  CPORET, you are an ABSOLUTE IDIOT.

  Here are more than three decisions Thomas authored.
  http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/author.php?thomas

  Yet another liberal lie (that he doesn’t write decisions) about Thomas dismissed, though I’m sure it will keep coming up.

• 8 ottovbvs // May 26, 2009 at 1:43 pm

  Jeffryw
  10:55 AM

  …….What utter nonsense. Obama is clearly a hugely talented individual whatever you think of his politics as is Powell whereas Steele is a total buffoon. It has nothing to do with their color and everything to do with their intellect, intelligence and competence.

  …….As far as Sotamayor is concerned, she’s clearly qualified and happens to be hispanic……Obama gets to kill birds with one stone…..puts a clever jurist on the supreme court for a long time and completely outflanks the ability of Republicans to derail her. You can make these obsessive racist remarks here because no on is paying attention to you but you’re not going to hear any of this talk from Republicans unless they have a death wish.

• 9 king183 // May 26, 2009 at 1:46 pm

  CPORET, you are an ABSOLUTE IDIOT.

  Here are more than three decisions Thomas authored.
  http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/author.php?thomas

  Yet another liberal lie (that he doesn’t write decisions) about Thomas dismissed, though I’m sure it will keep coming up.

• 10 ottovbvs // May 26, 2009 at 1:47 pm

  king183
  wrote 5 minutes ago

  …….I got news for you buddy….most opinions are authored by law clerks and these could well have been and probably were….the only justices notable for playing a big role in drafting original opinions are Scalia, Breyer and Ginsburg, and to a lesser degree Kennedy

• 11 king183 // May 26, 2009 at 1:52 pm

  Haha….wow, you guys are something. So cporet asks for three opinions written by Thomas and I provide dozens. But that doesn’t count because most opinions are authored by law clerks. BUT it’s worse because only three write “original” opinions! Wow.

  Still, I guess by your standards, every other justice who isn’t Scalia, Breyer and Ginsburg is an idiot because you can’t name three decisions they’ve authored. Don’t try because I’ll just say the clerks wrote them.

• 12 // May 26, 2009 at 2:42 pm

  What criteria must a person satisfy in order to be considered the “most qualified candidate for Justice of the SC? There aren’t any and, therefore, it seems silly to argue whether someone is “the most qualified” person.

  You’re either qualified or not (and the standard is fairly low or at least nebulus). Beyond that, all of the factors that are considered will vary from president to president. Quit acting like there are some clearly defined standards that tell us whether a person is most qualified. That simply is not the case.

• 13 // May 26, 2009 at 2:49 pm

  Frum has not said it explicitly, but his comment suggests that he does not believe Thomas’ race was a factor in his nomination. If that is what Frum and other conservatives really believe, why don’t they say so clearly?

  And, so what if Thomas’ race was, indeed, a factor in his nomination. If the guy was qualified, why not consider his race as a factor? Do you really believe that we ended up with nothing but white males on the court for hundreds of years without factoring in the race/gender of other candidates who may have also been qualified, but were NOT selected?

• 14 whospeaksforyou // May 26, 2009 at 3:15 pm

  Getting back to my original question:

  Does David believe that being a minority nominee legitimately opens one up to more scrutiny than a non-minority nominee?

  The answer would seem to be ‘yes’ based on this post as well as past comments on affirmative action.

  David, any response?

• 15 ottovbvs // May 26, 2009 at 3:20 pm

  king183
  1:52 PM

  …..I don’t know or care what anyone else says…..Thomas based on informed opinion I have heard is a lightweight……He’s also an incredible whiner judging by that book he wrote which I took out from the library….Couldn’t get past about a third of it…talk about self pity writ large

• 16 whospeaksforyou // May 26, 2009 at 3:21 pm

  Getting back to my original question:

  Does David believe that being a minority nominee legitimately opens one up to more scrutiny than a non-minority nominee?

  The answer would seem to be ‘yes’ based on this post as well as past comments on affirmative action.

  David, any response?

• 17 whospeaksforyou // May 26, 2009 at 3:31 pm

  Getting back to my original question:

  Does David believe that being a minority nominee legitimately opens one up to more scrutiny than a non-minority nominee?

  The answer would seem to be ‘yes’ based on this post as well as past comments on affirmative action.

  David, any response?

• 18 mlindroo // May 26, 2009 at 3:33 pm

  > What criteria must a person satisfy in order to be
  > considered the “most qualified candidate for Justice of
  > the SC?

  …a point-for-point comparison between Sotomayor and Alito would be useful, for example.

  It’s late and I’m tired, but at least at first glance they seem to have roughly comparable educational and professional backgrounds.

  MARCU$

• 19 Bulldoglover100 // May 27, 2009 at 5:07 am

  and why did George H.W Bush nominate her in the first place David?

• 20 sinz54 // May 27, 2009 at 6:38 am

  Spartacus sez: ‘why not consider his race as a factor? Do you really believe that we ended up with nothing but white males on the court for hundreds of years without factoring in the race/gender of other candidates who may have also been qualified, but were NOT selected?”

  Because at some point before the Star Trek era, the racial discrimination (whether pro-white or pro-black or anti-white or anti-black) has to stop. Judge Roberts (who was opposed by Obama) said it best:

  “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to STOP discrimination on the basis of race.”

  You don’t counter anti-black discrimination with anti-white discrimination. I had enough of that nonsense when I lived in New York City.

• 21 sinz54 // May 27, 2009 at 6:42 am

  ottovbvs: Look, now that you liberals have your filibuster-proof majority on the Supreme Court, Obama could nominate anybody he wanted and get them approved. In that sense, of course we’re “outflanked.”

  We know he’s got the muscle.
  But this is a teaching moment to make our case.

  I am sickened at the thought of Warren Court II (to go along with Great Society II), and these hearings on Sotomayor gives us an opportunity to remind the nation what went wrong in the 1960s and early 1970s, and how Obama is determined to turn the clock back to that era.

  And toward that end, I don’t care about Sotomayor’s Latina background. I’m not intimidated by attempts to hide behind someone’s membership in a “protected class” as a deflector shield against criticism.

• 22 Jeffryw // May 27, 2009 at 7:41 am

  OTTO….do you really believe this tripe???

  “Obama is clearly a hugely talented individual whatever you think of his politics…It has nothing to do with color and everything to do with intellect, intelligence and competence.” (leaving out powell and steele as my comment was on Obama)

  first of all. B.S. my man. If you put up a man who was a junior less than one term senator from Illinios, had a mediocre career in the Illinois legislature while being a true chicago machine politician , had shady land deals with unscrupulous developers, ties to known terrorists and racists preachers for decades (yet claimed to not hear said preachers anti-Americn tyraids) had NO executive experience whatsover as a viable candidate for POTUS but was WHITE, you would get laughed at! So honestly stop with that. This is the least qualified man to be POTUS in my lifetime and he is showing it already.

  And the fact is when you say “I’m looking for an hispanic judge, not a good judge and if she’s hispanic great, but if not we’ll still put her up there” you are using race as a qualification hence racsist.

  So climb down from your faux high horse and accept a truth that Biden did when speaking of Thomas:

  Obama could not have been elected president or even considered to run if he was white. And Sotomayor had “hispanic” at the top of her list. That she thinks the courts (and not legislature) is in her words “where policy is made” becomes secondary to her “appellido.”

  I get so tired of racists electing people based on their race to prove to themselves they are NOT racsists. Makes me ill.

• 23 // May 27, 2009 at 10:24 am

  Sinz @ 6:38AM: I don’t believe it is a form of racial prejudice to try to create a court that reflects the diversity (racial and otherwise) of the country. If we have a pool of qualified applicants and we don’t want a court made up of people who have had mostly the same experiences in life, what is wrong with considering the different experiences and perspectives of the candidates.

  If we had a court of all women or all blacks would it really be a bad thing to openly say we should look for a qualified white male to fill the next opening?

You must log in to post a comment.