Sonia Sotomayor casts first Supreme Court vote, supporting a stay of execution

Los Angeles Times ^ | August 18, 2009 | David G. Savage

[BraveMan]

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.

[BraveMan]

What a surprise . . .

[skeeter]

May this be the first of many, many votes in the minority.

[Tarpon]

WOW, she is an ideologue, who knew.

[brytlea]

I was thinking the same thing. No surprise here.

[JRandomFreeper]

a convicted hit man, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 8 a.m. Pacific time today.

He should be assuming room temperature about now.

/johnny

[jessduntno]

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.

I’m shocked...shocked, I tell you...

[bgill]

0-1

Not a good start.

[CaptainK]

But the MSM said she as tough on crime.

[Dr. Ursus]

What a wise Latina!

[NMEwithin]

Hitmen have a right to life....babies do not.

[a fool in paradise]

Maybe the Left will spin this to say she is PRO-gun because she’s defending a professional hit man.

[rwfromkansas]

You always hope she may be a surprise on some things and not be as liberal as expected, but this doesn’t bode well.

[Mark was here]

Trying to save some kinfolk?

[Sparko]

See article here on juror in 1996 trial who will be happy today as well that Getsy bit the big one

Getsy juror outraged
Upset by parole board decision

http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/524953.html?nav=5021

[a fool in paradise]

Hitmen have a right to life but not their victims apparently.

His “civil rights” are being jeopardized and never mind what he did to his victims.

[Beeman]

The Defendant was probably a Latino—just a guess.

[Tarpon]

Naw, too dumb.

[a fool in paradise]

Hey now, he could just be a well-heeled DNC contributor.

[NonValueAdded]

Just her vote or are there opinion words?

[envisio]

What you wanna bet she paid no mind to the facts of the case or justice for the victims and made up her mind from the get-go to vote for this stay of execution?

Activism from the bench.

[A_Former_Democrat]

And I’ll bet the other justices are already privately shaking their heads about this intellectual lightweight

[null and void]

She protected a hit-man. Well, I'm shocked...

[dog breath]

It doesn’t seem logical that a man obviously guilty should be spared simply because the other people involved were not sentenced to death. It reflects a somewhat socialist tilt to her thinking, that even punishments should be divided equally.

[sr4402]

Did she have any Comments on this case?? Did she say anything??

[null and void]

At least one FReeper should be very happy with this news...

[Dixie Yooper]

Now if she can get him pardoned, he can vote for Obama...

[hsalaw]

Gee, what a surprise. She lied her fat head off during her hearing. She’s in lockstep with the other libs on the Court, despite all her claims that she believes in the Constitution.

[musicman]

"She protected a hit-man. Well, I'm shocked..."

I am shocked also. I cannot understand where in the world she would have picked up a set of social values like that from.......

[nikos1121]

What was the reasoning of the minority?

[Busywhiskers]

Those other five justices should have acquiesced to the superior judgement of the wise Latina.

[ctdonath2]

I look forward to reading the dissent. Will be ... amusing.

[nathanbedford]

No one questioned Getsy's guilt, but his lawyers argued he should be spared because other participants in the murder-for-hire plot, including its architect, John Santine, did not receive the death penalty.

Just last night my number two son argued that he did not have to go to bed when he was told to do so because his older brother at that age did not have to go to bed so early.

Is this the level of jurisprudence to which four members of our Supreme Court have descended?

Let's put it another way to make it clear to these justices: Do they think it was wrong to execute Adolf Eichmann in view of the fact that they never found and executed Doctor Mengele?

[MinuteGal]

My light bulbs just dimmed, Sonia.

Your batting average is now zero for one....even though we know it actually was one for Zero.

Nice try, though.

Leni

[HiTech RedNeck]

“Prosecutors said John Santine offered Getsy and two others $5,000 to kill Charles Serafino, a business rival, and any witnesses because of a dispute over Serafino’s landscaping business. Ann Serafino was killed because she was at home when the gunmen attacked, authorities said.”

Fifty pieces of silver, at least that’s more than what Judas got. Why the whole lot weren’t condemned to death is the bigger puzzle.

[Yosemitest]

Racial Bigot supports murderer. Send both of them to hell.

[COBOL2Java]

That blindfold sure is loose...

[freespirited]

WARREN - Time of death for executed Hubbard killer Jason Getsy was listed as 10:29 a.m. today, according to the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office.

As the execution was occurring at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville, about eight local residents held a vigil outside the Trumbull County Courthouse. Included in the vigil was St. Mary’s Catholic Church pastor the Rev. Bernard Schmalzried, who called for the church bells to toll for one hour beginning at 10 a.m.

[freespirited]

Last month, the Ohio Parole Board had recommended sparing Getsy's life on those grounds, but Gov. Ted Strickland disagreed on Friday. He said the more lenient treatment given the other defendants did not call for sparing the life of the shooter, Getsy.

I just gotta say thanks to Strickland for doing the right thing here. Wish I could say the same thing for four of the supposed geniuses on the court.

[Penny]

"What was the reasoning of the minority?"

That question does give me a good laugh. After all, when have you known a liberal to use reason over emotion? (That is, if they even have the intellectual power to reason.) And didn't our thug-in-chief want a compassionate kind of Latina?

Regards . . . Penny

[Brilliant]

I predict she will soon be voting to ban the death penalty. But without “making law.”

[a fool in paradise]

I am shocked also. I cannot understand where in the world she would have picked up a set of social values like that from.......

[webschooner]

If it’s for a Stay of Execution, the wise ass fat ass Latina prolly doesn’t even read any further, just votes “aye”.

[a fool in paradise]

Sonia Sotomayor acted stupidly.

[SharpRightTurn]

Right out of the gate the “wide Latina” shows her colors.

[a fool in paradise]

Why should she have to read what’s before her to make a decision?

Democrats in Congress were PROUD to have never read any of her decisions before voting to seat her on the Supreme Court.

[Above My Pay Grade]

I guess she “empathized” more with the hit man than with his victim.

If the appeal had any merit whatsoever, I wouldn't rip her for this. However, the murderer's only argument seems to be, “If you don't execute all my co-conspirators, you can't execute me.”

[Penny]

He was just put to death.

[Talisker]

Sonia Sotomayor acted stupidly.

She's there to deliver the goods to the Left. She'll do what she's told, as she always has. For her, there is neither reflection nor concern. In fact, the entire issue of actual justice is so irrelevent I'd wager she'd bust out laughing if you asked her about it.

[muawiyah]

This guy murdered a woman named Serafino.

That's an Italian name.

Sotomayor has peculiar problems with Italian surnamed people ~ like she hates their guts with a passion that exceeds all understanding.

Guess you can take the wise mouthed Latina out of the Hispanic neighborhood, but the odor of her bigoted upbringing clings to her like a wet wool rug.

[Above My Pay Grade]

Justice - 1
Sotomayor - 0