Free Republic

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has set herself apart from colleagues with her fervent statements protesting the majority's refusal to take some appeals, particularly involving prisoners. Each month, the justices spurn hundreds of petitions from people who have lost in lower courts, and rarely does an individual justice go public with concern about the denial. In the seven times it has happened since the annual term opened in October, Justice Sotomayor has signed four of the opinions, more than any other justice. She was the lead author on three, again more than any other justice. She forcefully dissented when the...

At her confirmation hearings last year, Sonia Sotomayor spent a lot of time assuring senators that empathy would play no part in her work on the Supreme Court. That was a sort of rebuke to President Obama, who had said that empathy was precisely the quality that separated legal technicians like Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. from great justices. Justice Sotomayor would have none of it. “We apply law to facts,” she told the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. “We don’t apply feelings to facts.” We are now three months into Justice Sotomayor’s second term on the court. That...

‘It’s clear that Elena Kagan will rubber-stamp President Obama’s massive expansions in federal power and entrench the Left’s agenda on issues like same-sex marriage, so it’s no surprise that Democrats on the committee have rubber-stamped her nomination.’ The Senate Judiciary Committee today favorably voted out of committee Elena Kagan – President Obama’s nominee for associate justice for the U.S. Supreme Court. The 13-6 vote fell along party lines, except for Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who sided with the Democrat majority. Graham – who is not up for re-election until 2015 – justified his vote by essentially saying elections have consequences....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith got her U.S. Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday, when her lawyer argued she should collect millions of dollars she claims her late Texas oil tycoon husband had promised her. At one point during the hour-long arguments, the 38-year old blond widow, dressed in black and sitting in the spectator section, became emotional and started crying, a witness and her lawyer said. Smith, who formerly also has hosted her own reality television show, did not talk to the crush of reporters, photographers and camera crews when she entered and left...