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Pro-Life Group: Sonia Sotomayor Will Back Abortion on Supreme Court Washington, DC -- Should the Senate confirm appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, they will be adding another abortion advocate to its ranks. That's the gist of a new letter the National Right to Life Committee sent members of the Senate in an attempt to defeat her nomination. See http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5291.html

Senate Judiciary Cmte OKs Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court Washington, DC -- The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court position vacated by retiring pro-abortion Justice David Souter. The vote largely split along party lines with only pro-life Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joining Democrats backing her. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5287.html

Today, courts and commentators generally agree that early efforts to strictly limit the federal government to only expressly enumerated powers were decisively rebuffed by Chief Justice John Marshall in McCulloch v. Maryland. According to Marshall, the fact that the Framers departed from the language of the Articles of Confederation and omitted the term “expressly” suggested that they intended Congress to have a broad array of implied as well as expressly delegated powers. As Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story later wrote, any attempt to read the Tenth Amendment as calling for strict construction of federal power was simply an attempt to...

34-years-ago, Karen Grammer was brutally killed after a botched robbery in Colorado Springs. Her convicted killer, Freddie Glenn, is now up for parole. Karen's brother, actor Kelsey Grammer has said he will be at that parole hearing at the Limon Correctional Facility Monday. Former Assistant District Attorney Chuck Heim..."She was sitting outside ...waiting for her boyfriend to get out of work and these clowns picked her up," It was July 1st, 1975. 18-year-old Grammer was sitting in a car outside of a Red Lobster in Colorado Springs, when three men, including Freddie Glenn, tried to rob the restaurant. When that...

Climate Change: The EPA has prepared a finding for review that global warming is a public health threat, the first step toward regulating the American economy down to your lawn mower.We are often told how the pursuit of alternative energy will help save the earth from climate change and create lots of green jobs. Advocates rarely use the phrase "global warming" any more because the earth is in fact no longer warming, and hasn't for a decade due to a decline in solar activity and other natural factors. They prefer the phrase "climate change" because it can cover a multitude...

The GOP-tilting Chamber of Commerce is backing Sonia Sotomayor in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee today. "Her extensive experience both as a commercial litigator and as a trial judge would provide the U.S. Supreme Court with a much needed perspective on the issues that business litigants face," wrote COC executive vice-president R. Bruce Josten. "Consistent with her Senate testimony, the Chamber expects Judge Sotomayor to engage in fair and evenhanded application of the laws affecting American businesses."

Conservative activists are not paying attention to Judge Sotomayor’s written follow up to her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During committee, she backpedaled on the use of international law in decision making. Having done a 180, she is now circling back for a full 360 degree turn to her original position. This troubling flip-flop should give Republican Senators grounds to vote no. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has, in the past, stated that foreign law helps us know “whether our understanding of our own constitutional rights [falls] into the mainstream of human thinking.” Judge Sotomayor, prior to her Senate confirmation...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, an early critic of President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, said Wednesday he will vote to confirm her as the first Hispanic on the top U.S. court. Graham, who sharply questioned Sotomayor at her Senate confirmation hearing last week, said she was a good pick to replace retired Justice David Souter, one of four liberals on the court that often splits 4-5 in favor of conservatives. "I think that Judge Sotomayor will not be any more liberal than him, and on some issues, quite frankly, may be more balanced," Graham said...

Firefighter Ben Vargas, who is Hispanic, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Judge Sonia Sotomayor played “racial identity” politics instead of judging him and his fellow firefighters “on their qualifications and the content of their character" in a reverse discrimination case he brought against the city of New Haven, Conn. “I became not Ben Vargas, the fire lieutenant who proved themselves qualified to be captain--but a racial statistic,” testified Vargas, a lieutenant in the New Haven Fire Department. “I had to make decisions whether to join those who wanted promotions to be based on race and ethnicity, or join those...

SC against abortion for mentally challenged rape victim 22 Jul 2009, 0517 hrs IST, IANS NEW DELHI: In a significant judgement, the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling that had allowed authorities to force a mentally challenged rape victim to undergo an abortion. A bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan scrapped a July 17 verdict of the high court ordering medical termination of the pregnancy of 19-year-old mentally challenged, unwed and orphan girl Radha (name changed), raped by a staff of the government shelter home in Chandigarh. The bench, which also included Justice...

Based upon what you know at this time, should the United States confirm Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice? * 37% Yes* 43% No* 20% Not sure Regardless of whether or not you believe she should be confirmed, how likely is it that Sonia Sotomayor will be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice? * 64% Very likely* 26% Somewhat likely* 3% Not very likely* 1% Not at all likely* 7% Not sure Do you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable impression of Sonia Sotomayor? * 20% Very favorable* 27% Somewhat favorable* 22% Somewhat unfavorable*...

Mitch McConnell appears to be taking Jennifer Rubin's adage to heart as his office announced that the Republican leader will oppose the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court: McConnell gives his reasons in a press release outlining remarks he will make Monday on the senate floor: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "From the beginning of this confirmation process, I've said that Americans expect one thing when they walk into a court room, whether it's a traffic court or the Supreme Court - and that's equal treatment under the law. Over the years, Americans have accepted significant ideological differences in the kinds of...

Sen. Lindsey Graham read off some of the terms lawyers used to describe Judge Sonia Sotomayor: “A terror,” “angry,” “aggressive,” and “a bully.” “You stand out like a sore thumb in terms of your temperament,” Graham told Sotomayor at her Supreme Court confirmation hearings this week. “I do ask tough questions at oral arguments,” Sotomayor replied. “And some lawyers do find that our court, which is not just me, but our court generally, is described as a ‘hot bench.’ ” But what is a “hot bench” anyway? And how hot was it? The task of disentangling tough from obnoxious, probing...

Dear Sonia, I've heard a lot from you and about you in the past month--you're all over the news, kind of like Michael Jackson, only not as feminine. Here's 3 questions I want to ask: 1. I looked up where you live-not for stalking purposes, or any nefarious reason-just wanted to see if you walk it like you talk it, as they say. Just what I thought-your pad is in a very nice area of the West Village, only a few blocks away from the late great bar Chumley's. One of the apartments in your building (yours?) is currently on...

Lugar statement on Judge Sotomayor Senator Dick Lugar released the following statement on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: “I have listened to the testimony of Judge Sonia Sotomayor before the Senate Judiciary Committee, carefully reviewed her public service record, and reviewed recommendations from Indiana constituents and colleagues here in the Senate. Judge Sotomayor is clearly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court and she has demonstrated a judicial temperament during her week-long nomination hearing. Judge Sotomayor has had a distinguished career of public service. She is well regarded in the...

Sotomayor disqualified by cross examination 101 By Dave Weinbaum http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Perjury — in criminal law, willful false statement made under oath with respect to a material matter, either in a legal proceeding, as by a witness at a trial, or in matters in which an oath is authorized or required by law… The senate is about to confirm a judge to the most powerful position in the nation, arguably MORE powerful than the presidency, who can't keep a story straight. No, she wasn't witness to a crime, unless you consider her speeches an incitement to attack not-so-wise white men....

So says Time Magazine writer Jeffrey Rosen. The idea that the Supreme Court can make policy shouldn't be controversial after its decisions in two of the most contentious cases of the term that ended last month, one involving voting rights and the other affirmative action. In the voting-rights case, Chief Justice John Roberts produced the most impressive example of judicial statesmanship of his tenure by persuading all but one of his fellow Justices to converge around a result that never occurred to Congress when it passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. A prudent demonstration of judicial policymaking, the decision...

Even before Sonia Maria Sotoymayor becomes a Supreme Court justice, liberals are canonizing the woman. Actually, that’s not quite accurate. Sotomayor is being pushed above and beyond saint status. In truth, liberals want to enshrine her as The Virgin Maria Sotomayor! To do it, National Hispanic Foundation of the Arts Chair Felix Sanchez has concocted a blasphemous image. It’s circulating ‘round the Internet. Given the speed that pictures, video clips and notes go viral on the Web these days, the illustration has probably made its way to Vatican City by now. Maybe it even landed at the remote chalet where...

"Is there anything the Senate or Congress can do if a nominee says one thing seated at that table and does something exactly the opposite once they [are on the Supreme Court]?" Senator Arlen Specter asked Judge Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday. When Sotomayor promises her "fidelity" to the rule of law the Senators simply have to trust that she is telling them the truth. Unfortunately, there is significant evidence that Sotomayor has been less than honest in private meetings with the Senators. This past Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported on a series of interviews it had done with Senators...

If there was any doubt that Sonia Sotomayor would be able to pull some Republican Senators her way today's actions should put those fears to reat. From the Politico Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s hopes of winning at least one Republican vote appeared to brighten Thursday when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) dismissed claims by conservative groups that Sotomayor has a record has a judicial activist. “judge, to be honest with you, your record as a judge has not been radical by any means. It's, to me, left of center,” Graham told Sotomayor during her third day of questioning before the...

President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court points to a dilemma that will likely plague his presidency: How does a "post-racialist" president play identity politics? What is most notable about the Sotomayor nomination is its almost perfect predictability. Somehow we all simply know -- like it or not -- that Hispanics are now overdue for the gravitas of high office. And our new post-racialist president is especially attuned to this chance to have a "first" under his belt, not to mention the chance to further secure the Hispanic vote. And yet it was precisely the American longing...

Firefighters involved in the Ricci case are about to appear before the Senate committee.

Supreme Court nominee returns for a third and final day of questioning Thursday, having avoided saying much on a range of hot-button issues, including guns and abortion.As witnesses prepare to take the stand Thursday in Sonia Sotomayor's last day of confirmation hearings, the chairman of the Senate Juduciary Committee said their testimony will matter little. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Wednesday that he may not ask any questions of the witnesses present at the Supreme Court nominee's hearing. Among the witnesses requested by the committee to testify are New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Connecticut firefighters whom the federal...

Sonia Sotomayor has to be the wisest Latina in the room at the Senate Supreme Court Judicial Confirmation Hearings because the redaction of her original statement was so patently false that only stupid white men and women would believe her new explanation. Speaking of stupid white men and women see for yourself (see 1:12min video) According to Sotomayor now, what she really meant was only intended to inspire young Latinas before you imbeciles misunderstood her words "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than...

I've been listening for the word "empathy" in the Senate hearings of Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, and so far have not heard it mentioned. This is perplexing since I would think that Ms. Sotomayor would be bragging that she possesses this virtue as a qualification for nomination, as President Obama demanded.

only watched bits and pieces and so I'll just speak to the most interesting thing I noticed. Senator Tom Coburn questioned Judge Sotomayor repeatedly about the second amendment and Judge Sotomayor was very technical about exactly how far the right extended. Suffice to say, Judge Sotomayor doesn't see the 2nd amendment as an absolute right that no government can take away. Senator Coburn later asked Judge Sotomayor if there is a Constitutional right to defend one's self. Judge Sotomayor thought about this question and she answered that the particular question had never come before the court. In other words, one...

Other than declaring war, neither house of Congress has a more solemn responsibility than the Senate's role in confirming justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. As the Senate considers the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Americans are watching to see if this nominee would lend her support to those who've declared war on the rights of America's 80 million gun owners. After the first day of confirmation hearings, gun owners have good reason to worry. Those of us who respect the Second Amendment are concerned about the case of Maloney v. Cuomo, which reviewed whether this freedom applies to all...

George Mason University law professor (and Reason contributor) Ilya Somin catches Sonia Sotomayor misstating a central fact about the Supreme Court's eminent domain decision in Kelo v. City of New London during her confirmation hearings today: In response to questioning by Democratic Senator Herb Kohl, Sotomayor refused to reveal her view of Kelo, a standard tactic used by previous Supreme Court nominees, but also incorrectly claimed that Kelo upheld a taking in an "economically blighted area"... In reality, both sides in the Kelo litigation agreed that the area in question was not blighted. As Justice John Paul Stevens noted in...

I just heard a soundbite of the following question "Do you believe that an individual has the right to self defense?" and Sonia Sotomayer's response to it:"I don't believe the court has addressed that issue.... but I could be wronnnnnnng." Evading the question of whether or not an individual has the right to self defense calls to question her intelligence and her decency BIG TIME. Charges are dropped based on the presumption of self defense all the time. People have been exonerated forever based on a determination of self defense. But Sotomayer, rather than simply say "Yes," the answer that...

Judge Sonia Sotomayor was rebuked on June 29 by the Supreme Court for how she handled the Ricci v. DeStefano case. Ricci thus presents an opportunity to examine whether Sotomayor, President Obama's nominee to the Court, has the requisite ability to recognize significant issues in cases. Ricci involves a fire department intentionally discriminating against the hiring of certain firefighters because of race. The fire department administered an exam to determine promotion eligibility. The department then tossed out the results because it didn't like the racial composition of group that passed, i.e., not enough applicants with certain skin colors. This occurred...

You can’t judge a judge by her cover. Despite the best efforts of Republicans to root out any sign that Sonia Sotomayor has emotions that color her views on the law, the Bronx Bomber kept a robotic mask in place. A wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not know that a gaggle of white Republican men afraid of extinction are out to trip her up. After all, these guys have never needed to speak inspirational words to others like them, as Sotomayor has done. They’ve had codes, handshakes and clubs to do that.

Correspondents Andrew Kilberg and Alexandra Cahill are liveblogging the confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor all week. Daniel May may jump in as well today. You can watch the live feed of the hearing here. Live blog below. Andrew Kilberg: Sotomayor: "The SCOTUS is also looking at its precedents... and the Court takes a new direction." She says this is because lawyers force the Court to look at it in a new way. 9:46 Andrew Kilberg: Cornyn finally jumps in to draw Sotomayor back to the question. 9:46 Alexandra Cahill: "Do you believe that judges ever change the law?" 9:50 Alexandra...

I have a question I have been pondering lately, and it is a question I would love to see just one Republican Senator ask. You see the "wise latina" quote has been spun every which way to Sunday, but there is one rhetorical which has not been asked yet. Here it is: Lets imagine it 2006 and we are having the Roberts confirmation hearing and it is uncovered that he had said that "A wise white man, with the richness of his experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion" than a judge from a more mixed background."...

Every time an anti-abortion protester disrupted the confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor they were removed immediately from the chambers. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D – Vt., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, which is conducting the hearing, is very efficient in keeping order. Then again, maybe efficiency and the maintenance of order is not what this is all about. After all, when antiwar protesters ...

After doing a little virtual digging, I unearthed the transcripts from the hearings on Justice Thomas, which famously degenerated into a Judge Judy-like debacle, with Democrats accusing the Justice of strategic pubic hairs. I have culled some of the highlights (or lowlights) of those hearings in an attempt to refresh the memory of some who may have forgotten who the Democrats are. Patrick Leahy [to Thomas]: And finally, I’m concerned about some of your ideological views. You’ve wholeheartedly endorsed the statement that America is careening with frightening speed towards a statist-dictatorial system. I can’t accept that, and these words seem...

In calling Roe v. Wade “settled law,” Sotomayor affirmed a woman’s right to choose based on the Supreme Court’s decision. Here are a few other Supreme Court decisions that, in the past, could have equally been called “settled law”: Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) – Against the backdrop of growing tension between sections of the United States, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of a slave who, having lived with his master in a free state for a period of time, wished to be considered a free man. The Supreme Court heard the case and ruled against the enslaved...

There was plenty of fireworks in the second day however, for the most part, the back and forth between Senators and Judge Sotomayor could only be interesting to serious political junkies and constitutional scholars. The most important part, in my opinion, came in a back and forth between John Kyl and the Judge. Senator Kyl quoted President Obama's standard for choosing a Supreme Court justice.

I'm surprised and disturbed by how many times today Sonia Sotomayor has backed off of or provided less-than-convincing explanations for some of her more controversial speeches about the role of gender and ethnicity in judicial decision-making.

The money bit comes between 14:45 and 17:45 when he forces her to confront the egregious double standard in what she said but I’m giving you the full half-hour interrogation just because it’s that good. CNN’s analysts were raving afterwards about what an expert cross-examination it was but I’m struck less by the substance than the tone, with Graham lapsing in and out of his genial southern gentleman routine to land some withering shots. (Right at the beginning, he mocks her shameless lying about empathy by saying, “I listened to you today, I think I’m listening to Judge Roberts.”) The...

Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor Calls Roe Abortion Case "Settled Law" Washington, DC -- Everyone watching the Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor knew the question about abortion case law would come eventually. When it did, Sotomayor gave the answer most political observers expected -- that the Roe v. Wade abortion case is "settled law." http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5218.html

Latino KKK Connection IgnoredConfirmation Assured byPaul L. Williams, Ph.D.thelastcrusade.org It's in the bag! No one raised the question of the ape in the anteroom.Senate Democrats praised Sonia Sotomayor as a judicial pioneer, and Republican Lindsey Graham predicted a quick confirmation save for a “complete meltdown.” questioned her impartiality and President Barack Obama's views as well Monday at the start of confirmation hearings for the nation's first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court. "And I don't think you will" have a meltdown, Graham added quickly as Senorita Sotomayor sat listening, with a wise and knowing smile. Graham made this egregious...

Here is what Judge Sotomayor said in her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. She said, “my judicial philosophy... is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law -- it is to apply the law.” On seven occasions, one by example in an opinion, she made clear an opposite opinion, that the outcome of a case decided by a judge of her style of decision-making, can and should be varied according to the “experience” of the judge. She wrote and published, “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her...

We were surprised with the nomination of Judge Sotomayor. She is one of the least experienced nominees to the Supreme Court in its history with one of the most troubling records. Why would the President nominate someone like her? Shouldn’t a lifetime appointment be one of the highest importance? The Senate has voted down far more qualified individuals that Judge Sotomayor. Instead of upholding law, she has said she believes judges make laws. In the New Haven case, Ricci v. DeStefano, she used racial discrimination over qualifications to deny promotions to fire fighters. Someone who uses race in decisions on...

Let’s review some of her decisions: While she was actively serving on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund from 1980-1992, the PRLDEF filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing in favor of abortion. She served on the Litigation Committee for eight years and chaired the committee for four. The group opposed the death penalty, opposed the confirmation of Judge Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, supported federal funding of abortion, and compared abortion restrictions to slavery. PRLDEF also supported the abortion rights group, NOW, and other extreme groups, such as ACORN....

Sonia Sotomayor has stated her case for a place on the US Supreme Court to the Senate, saying her judicial philosophy is "fidelity to the law". The nominee said during her 17 years as a federal judge she had sought to serve the interests of "impartial justice". Ms Sotomayor - nominated by President Barack Obama - will be the first Hispanic to serve on the court if she is, as expected, confirmed in the post. Some Republican senators want her to explain past rulings and comments. These include her remark that a "wise Latina" could reach better legal conclusions than...

Today in Washington, DC at the United States Senate, U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor will undergo at least several days of examination of her fitness to become a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), which is a lifetime position on the highest court in the land. ...The most common dictionary definition of the word “racialist” is that it is “an emphasis on race or racial considerations, as in determining policy or interpreting events.” We’ve already been told of Judge Sotomayor’s declaration — when she thought she was speaking off the record —...

Nothing has happened so far today that was unexpected. The most effective monologue, in my opinion, was made by Lindsey Graham. Graham, who appears headed toward voting in favor of Sotomayor, said he was bothered by the idea that someone in a robe could think their sex and ethnicity would make them a better judge than another. Graham also said that he would likely differ to the will of the president because in his words "elections have consequences".

On the eve of Judge Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, I continue to think that non-liberal Senators should vote against confirming her under the standard established by Democrats during the confirmation of John Roberts and Samuel Alito. That standard holds that consistent disagreement with the outcome of a judge's decisions in important cases is sufficient grounds for voting against that judge's elevation to the Supreme Court.

It’s opening day of the Senate SCOTUS hearings on the Sonia Sotomayor nomination. We’ll get gavel-to-gavel coverage this morning on all major networks and CSPAN starting at 10am Eastern. The good news: At least we’ll be spared Joe Biden’s bloviations.

Politico has an excellent preview of this week's hearings. After week's of Michael Jackson, health care, and cap and trade, the Supreme Court takes center stage. The polling on Judge Sotomayor is underwhelming. The latest CBS poll has her favorability at eight points over unfavorability (23-15) but most are still undecided. That's way down from the last time CBS polled in which her favorability outweighed her unfavorability 33-9. The latest Rasmussen poll has her unfavorability as two percent higher than her favorability.