Sonia Sotomayor for USSC?

[MadImmortalMan]

The American People are not 2/3 Catholic. I demand a court than looks like America! 

[Berkut]

Imagine how much people would freak out if Obama made it clear that in order to create diversity, he was not considering any Catholics for the Court.

In fact, we need an atheist! Obama should make it clear that you have to be an atheist to be considered. We can all support that right - it is ok to select only atheists, as long as they are perfectly well qualified....right?

[AnchorClanker]

Imagine how much people would freak out if Obama made it clear that in order to create diversity, he was not considering any Catholics for the Court.

In fact, we need an atheist! Obama should make it clear that you have to be an atheist to be considered. We can all support that right - it is ok to select only atheists, as long as they are perfectly well qualified....right?

Well, frankly, why not?  If we're going to play these silly-ass games with numbers and diversity, we need to do this as well.

[Berkut]

No reason why not, other than that it is stupid, counter-productive, and impossible to actually achieve.

I am amazed that people actually support this kind of inanity.

Could we get a list of which minority viewpoints are important enough to demand diversity over? Is it only sex and race, what about sexual preference? Religion? Social standing?

What about experience with the law? Wouldn't a USSC justice who has been in jail for selling crack provide an unique and valuable insight? We should find the best ex-crack dealer lawyer we can, and get them on the bench.

But of course that isn't how it works - the Shelfs and such of the world only really want *approved* diversity.

[Admiral Yi]

I was thinking the other day how unfair it is that women get half of athletic scholarships while Asians get nothing.

I bet Jews would sign off on changing that law too.

[Barrister]

You need to follow the Canadian model and have strict rules for regional diversity. 

Who represents the mountain west in the USSC?  The midwest?  It seems clear to me that the northeast is vastly over-represented.

[AnchorClanker]

I was thinking the other day how unfair it is that women get half of athletic scholarships while Asians get nothing.

I bet Jews would sign off on changing that law too.

Funnily enough, I've wondered for years how something so unfair as athletic "scholarships" were conjured up at all.
It doesn't even pass the sematic coherence test.

[Barrister]

Now I'm wondering - using solely the Wiki link of the court's current makeup, and using solely the justice's place of birth (since I don't want to spend more than 2 minutes on this), I get:

Roberts: New York
Stevens: Illinois
Scalia: New Jersey
Kennedy: California
Souter: Massachussets
Ginsburg: New York
Thomas: Georgia
Breyer: California
Alito: New Jersey

And I was right.  5 Justices from the Northeast, with only 1 from the midwest, 1 from the south, and 2 from the West.  Terrible balance, just terrible. :shakeshead:

[The Minsky Moment]

I know for a fact that Breyer spent most of his adult life in the Northeast.  Before joining the court, he was an appellate judge in the First Circuit (based in Boston).

[alfred russel]

Sotomayor and Condescending Identity Politics
By Froma Harrop

Identity politics are not good for the country or for the groups they purport to advance. This is not to undercut Sonia Sotomayor, who, as the news reports all start out, is the first Hispanic nominated to the Supreme Court and, if confirmed, would be the third female justice. From what we know about her so far, she seems qualified for the job.

But turning such appointments into political payback for an ethnic group or gender makes an unseemly spectacle. It undermines real achievements and infantilizes the candidate.

The important part of Sotomayor's time at Princeton wasn't her struggle as a Bronx-raised, working-class Puerto Rican among the Ivy League flowers. After all, Sotomayor did attend a good private Catholic high school. (And had she been born of poor Chinese immigrants, little fuss would have been made of her academic success.) The essence of Sotomayor's Princeton experience was that she graduated summa cum laude and went on to Yale Law School, where she was an editor on the law journal.

In recounting Sotomayor's "extraordinary journey," though, President Obama treats her as a daughter, not a colleague. His mention of her girlhood passion for Nancy Drew mysteries draws sweet laughter from the audience. And he repeatedly refers to Celina Sotomayor as "Sonia's mom."

Could you imagine a formal nomination speech that talked of John Roberts' mother as "John's mom"? And would anyone note that the chief justice enjoyed "Winnie the Pooh" as a boy, which he probably did?

When President Bush named his two male Supreme Court nominees, he invariably called them "Judge Roberts" and "Judge Alito." Sotomayor is every bit as much a judge, but Obama calls her "Sonia."

As in: "Well, Sonia, what you've shown in your life is that it doesn't matter where you come from, what you look like or what challenges life throws your way -- no dream is beyond reach in the United States of America." That hackneyed line would feel right in place at a high school graduation.

Obama no doubt reasons that he has picked someone whom the Republicans would not dare attack, given their recent poor electoral showing among Latinos. Embedded in this assumption is that Hispanics vote as a unit and on ethnic grounds.

Latinos are themselves a diverse group and don't all agree, even on immigration. Yet in writing of the politics of this nomination, Politico repeats the accepted wisdom that Republican stands on immigration "dramatically increased" the Democratic Party's share of the Hispanic vote last November.

Harsh, ethnically tinged comments during the immigration debate surely turned off some Latino voters. But what about the collapsing economy, which has disproportionately hurt Hispanic families? Democrats made significant gains among blue-collar Americans of all ethnic backgrounds.

It helps to remember that in the 2003 race for California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger won 30 percent of the Latino vote -- even though he was a Republican opposed to granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. A third candidate to Schwarzenegger's right took another 9 percent. Furthermore, the Democrat, Cruz Bustamante, was an open-borders advocate who would have been California's first modern Latino governor.

As for Puerto Ricans in New York, a New York Times-CBS News poll that same year found that only 19 percent wanted even legal immigration increased, while 36 percent said it should be reduced. Puerto Ricans are automatically American citizens.

And so identity politics can be misinformed as well as patronizing. This particular narrative turns the female nominee into everyone's little girl. And its treating of high achievement in only some groups with awe is offensive. Let's examine Sotomayor's record with a straight gaze, and leave identity politics at home. Won't happen, but let's try.

[Eddie Teach]

Funnily enough, I've wondered for years how something so unfair as athletic "scholarships" were conjured up at all.
It doesn't even pass the sematic coherence test.

Well, scholarships for men's football and basketball make sense from an economic perspective. Dunno if that was always the case though.

[Siege]

Judge Sotomayor will become the second Hispanic (Benjamin Cardozo was Sephardic)

If he doesn't have Injun blood he's not a real hispanic. 

Sephardic?  Were his ancestors secret Jews who stayed in Spain until the 19th century?

It's sort of like me saying I'm French because my ancestors were Hugenots who fled to Scotland...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_N._Cardozo

[Neil]

Judge Sotomayor will become the second Hispanic (Benjamin Cardozo was Sephardic)

If he doesn't have Injun blood he's not a real hispanic. 

Sephardic?  Were his ancestors secret Jews who stayed in Spain until the 19th century?

It's sort of like me saying I'm French because my ancestors were Hugenots who fled to Scotland...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_N._Cardozo

Well, he was right about his mediocrity.  Sephardim = TEH LOSE

[Razgovory]

The American People are not 2/3 Catholic. I demand a court than looks like America! 

They will be...

[Siege]

Judge Sotomayor will become the second Hispanic (Benjamin Cardozo was Sephardic)

If he doesn't have Injun blood he's not a real hispanic. 

Sephardic?  Were his ancestors secret Jews who stayed in Spain until the 19th century?

It's sort of like me saying I'm French because my ancestors were Hugenots who fled to Scotland...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_N._Cardozo

Well, he was right about his mediocrity.  Sephardim = TEH LOSE

You are a retard.