Free Republic

Myths, legends, and anthropology all state that the power to name a thing is the power to control or destroy it. A simple and devastating public relations technique is, therefore, to attach a memorable and accurate name to somebody. The Allies, for example, named General Fedor Bock "Der Sterber" ("Let's go get killed") due to his callous remark that it was the function of the German soldier to die for Germany, and they made sure his soldiers knew it. This article will similarly name Sonia Sotomayor, a jurist who seems to confuse the role of the U.S. Supreme Court with...

Conservatives may, in the long run, owe a thank-you to the “Wise Latina.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor jumped the shark Tuesday with her lengthy dissent from the Schuette decision, read aloud from the bench. Although the liberal media sympathize with her and presented the decision as a setback, the positions she took are at variance with both the clear meaning of the text of the Constitution and with the sentiments of the vast majority of Americans, who consistently vote against racial preferences whenever they get the chance. John Hinderaker of Powerline concisely summed up the essence of the position argued by...

“You know, it’s almost a life motto (‘Well-behaved women rarely make history’). If you read the book (My Beloved World), you know I’m very law abiding. But I make it very clear that, like all people, there are exceptions. I like driving fast. I’m a pure New Yorker and I jaywalk. None of us is perfect. Sometimes you have to do the unexpected.” […] “In the United States, certain segments of society played with quotas for a number of years. What ended up happening is that the larger population got angry. And the Supreme Court ultimately said that quotas were...

During oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday which focused on whether the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act violates the free exercise of religion, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan suggested employers who have moral objections to birth control should not provide health care coverage for their employees Chief Justice Roberts interjected that this was in opposition to what Hobby Lobby presented in its lawsuit. “I thought – I thought that part of the religious commitment of the owners was to provide health care for its employees,” Roberts said and Clements agreed. “Well, if they want...

Bye, Fidelity: Law, shmaw, says Justice Sotomayor by Daniel Clark Five years ago, during the confirmation hearings for her Supreme Court nomination, Sonia Sotomayor pacified skeptical Republican senators by declaring that her guiding judicial philosophy was “fidelity to the law.” Given the controversy at the time about her having said that it’s the judiciary’s role to create policy, this newfound devotion of hers was obviously fraudulent. To anyone who had failed to recognize this, however, her recent remarks during a speech at Yale must be terribly confusing. Sotomayor was asked why, in her written opinion in the 2009 Mohawk Industries,...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who grew up poor in New York City, described Monday how she navigated new worlds of Ivy League universities and the nation’s highest court. Sotomayor told students at Yale University that she has a competitive drive to improve herself and isn’t afraid to ask questions.

Bringing in the New Year, and not just at Times Square. This just in from the Associated Press, WASHINGTON (AP) — Only hours before the law was to take effect, a Supreme Court justice on Tuesday blocked implementation of part of President Barack Obama’s health care law that would have forced some religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees that includes birth control.Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s decision came after a different effort by Catholic-affiliated groups from around the nation. Those groups had rushed to the federal courts to stop Wednesday’s start of portions of the Affordable Care Act, also known...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Only hours before the law was to take effect, a Supreme Court justice on Tuesday blocked implementation of part of President Barack Obama's health care law that would have forced some religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees that includes birth control. Justice Sonia Sotomayor's decision came after a flurry of efforts by Catholic-affiliated groups from around the nation. Those groups had rushed to the federal courts to stop Wednesday's start of portions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Utah took its fight against gay marriage to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, asking the high court to suspend same-sex unions that became legal when a judge struck down the state’s voter-approved ban. The heavily Mormon state wants the marriages to stop while it appeals a judge’s decision, which said banning gay couples from marrying violates their right to equal treatment under the law. In papers filed Tuesday, the state asked Justice Sonia Sotomayor to overturn a decision that has led to more than 900 gay marriages in Utah. Sotomayor handles emergency requests from Utah and other Rocky Mountain...

The countdown to the new year in Times Square is getting some high-profile help—U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The organizers of the annual celebration announced Sunday that Sotomayor will lead the final 60-second countdown and push the ceremonial button to signal the descent of the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball. …

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Thursday the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings shows how difficult and sensitive the issue of racial profiling can be. Speaking with young students in Denver, Sotomayor noted that some people asked whether authorities had done enough to track the two suspects, both ethnic Chechens. “Is that profiling? Could be,” she said. “Is it something you just can't ignore? Maybe sometimes not.” …

Opponents of same-sex marriage resist it because it amounts to redefining marriage, but also because it will invite future redefinitions. If we embrace same-sex marriage, they argue, society will have surrendered any reasonable grounds on which to continue forbidding polygamy, for example. In truth, proponents of same-sex marriage have never offered a very good response to this concern. This problem was highlighted at the Supreme Court last month in oral argument over California’s Proposition 8, the state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman.

The liberal Supreme Court justices have demonstrated profound and shocking ignorance of the American health care system. Here's one of the most jarring examples: "What percentage of the American people who took their son or daughter to an emergency room and that child was turned away because the parent didn't have insurance," asked Sotomayor, "... do you think there's a large percentage of the American population that would stand for the death of that child -- (who) had an allergic reaction and a simple shot would have saved the child?" I have a precise answer for Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The...

I’ve obtained a copy of an interesting letter that Harvard law professor Larry Tribe wrote to his protégé, President Barack Obama, in the immediate aftermath of Justice Souter’s announcement of his decision to retire from the Court. I will post a PDF of the letter shortly. [Update: Here’s the letter.] In the meantime, I’ll call attention, in this post and two or three others, to some of its highlights. The express purpose of Tribe’s letter is to urge that Obama nominate Elena Kagan to the Souter vacancy. But before making his affirmative case for Kagan, Tribe argues strongly against the...

Mexico City, Mexico, Aug 5, 2010 / 05:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Despite heavy opposition from various organizations defending traditional marriage, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that same-sex “marriage” in the country's capital city is constitutional. According to the Associated Press, the court's justices acknowledged that while the constitution protects the family, it does not define what a "family" is. The 8-2 vote went against an appeal by Mexico's attorney general challenging the constitutionality of the city's law allowing gay “marriage.” The law went into effect on March 4 of this year. Next Monday the court will debate whether the law...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated Laredo lawyer Marina Garcia Marmolejo to be a federal judge in the U.S. Southern Judicial District of Texas. Marmolejo is the second candidate nominated by Obama for two open federal judicial seats in Laredo. The president also selected U.S. magistrate Judge Diana Saldaña for appointment earlier this month. ~Snip~ Marmolejo was recommended to the White House for appointment by Texas congressional Democrats on May 13, said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, chairman of the state's Democratic congressional delegation.

Counting the majority opinion and the various partial concurrences and dissents, today’s landmark First Amendment decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission clocks in a hefty 183-pages. But one thing that jumped right out while reading the dissent (it’s also a concurrence, in parts) written by Justice John Paul Stevens and joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor, is Stevens' angry tone. He calls the idea that the First Amendment forbids distinctions between individuals and individuals organized as a corporation “a glittering generality” with no foundation in the law, and later declares, “Under the majority's...

Gun Control: The Supreme Court agrees to decide if the Second Amendment applies to all of us, or just Washington, D.C. Why would the Founders put in the Bill of Rights something applying only to a federal enclave? In a 5-4 decision last year written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court overturned a draconian District of Columbia gun ban enacted 32 years ago that barred private ownership of handguns at all. Scalia wrote that an individual's right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted. The court ruled that...

(English-language translation) Yesterday's media headlines in Puerto Rico and the United States leave no room for doubt over the historical impact the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the 111th justice to join the United States Supreme Court has. The fact that the judge, the daughter of Puerto Rican parents, is the third woman to reach the highest court in the U.S. is in itself historic. In addition, however, she is the first member of the Hispanic community to join this body which interprets the application of the American Constitution. This factor is a transcendental step in making the Supreme...

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion [as a judge] than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”