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(Flashback, 2020) Laurence Tribe’s Leaked Memo: Sotomayor ‘Not as Smart as She Seems to Think She Is'
ABA (American Bar Association) Journal ^ | OCTOBER 29, 2010 | Debra Cassens Weiss

Posted on 05/03/2022 12:06:11 AM PDT by PghBaldy

Harvard law professor and constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe offered a spirited endorsement of Elena Kagan in a 2009 memo that noted the law school dean had the ability to persuade “a bunch of prima donnas to see things her way.”

The memo (PDF), leaked to conservative blogger Ed Whelan, bluntly advised against the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to fill the seat of retiring Justice David H. Souter, a recommendation ignored by President Obama. The New York Times Caucus blog, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post all have stories.

Tribe wrote that Kagan would be better able to persuade swing voter Justice Anthony M. Kennedy to adopt liberal positions than Sotomayor, who didn’t have Kagan’s intellectual heft. “Bluntly put, she’s not as smart as she seems to think she is, and her reputation for being something of a bully could well make her liberal impulses backfire and simply add to the firepower of the Roberts/Alito/Scalia/Thomas wing of the court,” Tribe wrote in his criticism of Sotomayor.

(Excerpt) Read more at abajournal.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: edwhelan; kagan; laurencetribe; scotus; sotomayor; tribe
In case the rumor is true that the Wise Latina's staffer leaked the draft, I thought to look for info on the Wise Latina.
1 posted on 05/03/2022 12:06:11 AM PDT by PghBaldy
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To: PghBaldy

This is from 2010. I should be asleep but dog woke me...


2 posted on 05/03/2022 12:06:42 AM PDT by PghBaldy (12/14/12 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15/12 - 1030am - Obama team scouts photo-op locations.)
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I remember that... Sotomayor vs Intelligence


3 posted on 05/03/2022 12:08:20 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: PghBaldy

Mayhe its time to remove the supreme court.

If they can’t stop acting lawless.


4 posted on 05/03/2022 12:09:22 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: PghBaldy
I should be asleep but dog woke me...

Me too! I have two who collaborated in waking me up. Now I'm awake and reading FR, while they are curled up asleep beside me.

5 posted on 05/03/2022 12:10:31 AM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: Secret Agent Man
Mayhe its time to remove the supreme court.

That's playing into the hands of the Democrats. They would like nothing better than to weaken the Court in any way possible -- packing it to dilute the conservative voices, impeaching Clarence Thomas, discrediting them politically however they can, etc. But they ain't getting away with it.

If they can’t stop acting lawless.

The conservative justices will have to figure out how to maintain the rule of law within the Supreme Court, since any semblance of collegiality is gone. (For example, texts could be individually and secretly watermarked so you can tell who is responsible for a leak. Or maybe they just won't give drafts to the liberals any more, since the liberals have proven they can't be trusted.)
6 posted on 05/03/2022 12:29:55 AM PDT by Alvin Diogenes
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To: Alvin Diogenes

Ah, the old Jack Ryan Canary Trap


7 posted on 05/03/2022 12:40:27 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (It seems the only immunity the vaccines provide is that big pharma can’t be sued.)
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To: Alvin Diogenes

I mean install an actual lawful court.


8 posted on 05/03/2022 12:56:33 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Alvin Diogenes
Some of the angst over this incident seems to be overblown. It may actually turn out to be a good thing if it results in two permanent changes to the Supreme Court:

1. Justices write their own opinions.

2. They don’t get shared with anyone until they are released to the public with the court’s decision in a case.

9 posted on 05/03/2022 1:10:45 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Mr. Potato Head ... Mr. Potato Head! Back doors are not secrets.")
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To: Alberta's Child

The justices vote and someone is selected to write the majority opinion. That justice drafts the opinion and shares it with at least the other ones in the majority, maybe all the justices, until the opinion satisfies enough that a majority subscribes their names to it. Sometimes a majority voting justice will concur with the opinion but add a personal opinion to make additional point(s). Dissenting justices write their own opinion and go through the same process, sharing it with other dissenters at least, and maybe all the justices. If you read Supreme decisions, it is common to see concurring opinion address the dissenting opinion points and dissenting opinions commenting on the majority decision points.


10 posted on 05/03/2022 1:45:38 AM PDT by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things.)
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To: caseinpoint

And if it was Sotomayor who leaked the draft she ought to be impeached.


11 posted on 05/03/2022 3:00:30 AM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan (qd4)
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To: PghBaldy

A DUMBASS Latinex BULLY!


12 posted on 05/03/2022 3:15:27 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Chad C. Mulligan

It has to be a LEFTY because no Conservative would leak to Politico an arm of the DEMOCRATS!


13 posted on 05/03/2022 3:17:19 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Chad C. Mulligan

Agreed but whomever leaked it will probably claim it was a clerk who did it. And it might have been. Clerks do a lot of the drafting of opinions.


14 posted on 05/03/2022 3:21:52 AM PDT by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things.)
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To: PghBaldy

But the Wide Latina is Wide.


15 posted on 05/03/2022 6:40:01 AM PDT by SharpRightTurn (“Giving money & power to government is like giving whiskey & car keys to teenage boys” P.J. O’Rourke)
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To: neverevergiveup

Old canine strategy...Wake human and while he’s strirring move over into his “warm spot”...My furry buddies play that game every night...

They start at the foot of my king size bed and by middle of night I’m displaced by a couple of 6# yorkiepoos...

Crafty little rascals...I’m sure they’re playin me...


16 posted on 05/03/2022 7:40:00 AM PDT by elteemike (Light is faster than sound; that's why so many people appear bright until you hear them speak.)
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