Difference between revisions of "Sonia Sotomayor"

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Sonia Sotomayor (pronounced Soh-toh-MY-oar) (born June 25, 1954) is a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. On May 26, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court, to replace retiring Justice David Souter. Sotomayor, 69, is the first Hispanic nominated to the high court. Indeed, she is the first American of Puerto Rican descent ever nominated to high office.^[1] Obama said she "is an inspiring woman who I believe will make a great justice."

Opinions

Doctrine of Standing

Decisions by Sotomayor, such as Taylor v. Vt. Dept of Ed. 313 F.3d 768 (2002), seem to show that she favors judicial restraint with respect to standing issues.

Terminology

An analysis of Sonia Sotomayor's decisions shows that she sometimes uses conservative terms, such as the following:

• strict constructionist New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council v. Hotel Ass'n, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16615 (1993)

• judicial restraint "venerable ground of judicial restraint" in Michel v. INS, 206 F.3d 253, 267 (2000)

• competition (in an economic context) Many cases.

• efficiency Singh v. City of New York, 524 F.3d 361 (2d Cir. 2008)

• free-market Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Comm., 880 F. Supp. 246, 256 (1995)

• separation of powers European Cmty. v. RJR Nabisco, 424 F.3d 175 (2005)

• transaction cost Calif. Pub. Emples.' Ret. Sys. v. N.Y. Stock Exch., Inc. (In re NYSE Specialists Sec. Litig.), 503 F.3d 89, 94 (2007)

• illegal alien United States v. Acevedo, 229 F.3d 350 (2d Cir. N.Y. 2000). In fact, Judge Sotomayor has used the term "illegal alien" to describe a defendant in five opinions, ruling against the defendant all five times. In one of those decisions, Judge Sotomayor held that the court should defer to legislative classifications of alienage under the most deferential "rational basis" level of review.^[2]

However, Sotomayor uses liberal terminology far more frequently,and often instead of more accurate words with conservative connotations:

• anti-abortion Sotomayor uses this term rather than "pro-life" in Amnesty Am. v. Town of W. Hartford, 361 F.3d 113 (2004) and Ctr. for Reprod. Law v. Bush, 304 F.3d 183 (2d Cir. N.Y. 2002)

• pro-choice Ctr. for Reprod. Law v. Bush, 304 F.3d 183 (2d Cir. N.Y. 2002) and Flamer v. City of White Plains, 841 F. Supp. 1365 (S.D.N.Y. 1993)

• environmental Heavily used in more than twenty of Sotomayor's decisions.

• racism Washington v. County of Rockland, 373 F.3d 310 (2d Cir. N.Y. 2004) and McNeil v. Aguilos, 831 F. Supp. 1079 (S.D.N.Y. 1993)

Issues

Abortion

Abortion supporters are alarmed that in a series of cases Sotomayor has consistently ruled against the abortion advocates. The White House has stated that Obama did not ask her views on abortion or privacy.^[3]

• In a 2007 case, she strongly criticized colleagues on the court who said that only women, and not their husbands, could seek asylum based on China’s abortion policy. “The termination of a wanted pregnancy under a coercive population control program can only be devastating to any couple, akin, no doubt, to the killing of a child,” she wrote, also taking note of “the unique biological nature of pregnancy and special reverence every civilization has accorded to child-rearing and parenthood in marriage.”

• In a 2004 case, she sided with anti-abortion protesters who sued police officers for violating their constitutional rights by using excessive force to break up demonstrations at an abortion clinic. Judge Sotomayor said the protesters deserved a day in court.

• She wrote a decision against a pro-choice group in Center for Reproductive Law and Policy vs. Bush.^[4] The decision dismissed the claim of a Mexico-based organization which challenged policies requiring that foreign organizations neither perform nor promote abortions as a condition for receiving US funding.

Sotomayor drew a distinction between "necessary" and "family planning" abortions: "For purposes of 22 U.S.C.S. � 2151b(f)(1), "abortion as a method of family planning" does not include abortions performed if the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or abortions performed following rape or incest (since abortion under these circumstances is not a family planning act)."

Sotomayor concluded, "The Supreme Court has made clear that the government is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds."

President Obama recently overturned this decision.

According to the ACLJ, "Though she once ruled in favor of upholding the Mexico City Policy, pro-life organizations say her comment trumps that decision because she appears to favor Roe and how the Supreme Court made abortion policy by allowing abortions throughout pregnancy for any reason."^[5]

Parental Rights

In Wilkinson v. Russell, 182 F.3d 89, 108 (2d Cir. Vt. 1999), Sotomayor quoted from Frazier v. Bailey, 957 F.2d 920. She described the case by stating, "In reaching its conclusion, the Frazier court emphasized the murky nature of parental rights". Quoting another case, she said, "Although recognizing that the Constitution extends "certain fundamental parental rights," the court held that plaintiff's allegations did not even "implicate the constitutional guarantees at issue."

Establishment Clause

Hankins v. Lyght, 441 F.3d 96 (2006) "In an age discrimination challenge by a Methodist clergyman, Judge Winter writing for the majority held that [the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA)] is properly applied to an Age Discrimination in Employment Act claim. Judge Sotomayor dissented contending that RFRA does not apply to disputes between private parties and that the ADEA does not govern disputes between religious entities and their spiritual leaders." ^[6]

Sotomayor stated, "The majority's opinion thus violates a cardinal principle of judicial restraint by reaching unnecessarily the question of RFRA's constitutionality. For these reasons, I respectfully dissent." (emphasis added)

"I believe that a remand is a wasteful expenditure of judicial resources and an unnecessary and uninvited burden on the parties. The district court is in no better position than we are to decide either the statutory or constitutional questions presented in this case. In my view, the most appropriate disposition of this case would be to affirm the district court's dismissal of appellant's claims on the ground that the ADEA does not apply to employment suits brought against religious institutions by their spiritual leaders. Because the majority's contrary approach disregards a clear and voluntary waiver, conflicts with RFRA's text and with binding precedent, and unnecessarily resolves a contested constitutional question, I respectfully dissent."

Second Amendment

Judge Sotomayor has not written any opinions that directly address the Second Amendment. She has, however, joined panel opinions that have both:

• declared that the right to bear arms is not a fundamental right
• declared that the Second Amendment does not apply to the states, but only limits the federal government

Independence Institute Research Director Dave Kopel said that Sotomayor's opinions "demonstrate a profound hostility to Second Amendment rights." Maloney v. Cuomo ruled that the Second Amendment does not apply against state and local governments. Judge Sotomayor joined this opinion by a panel of the Second Circuit: "It is settled law that the Second Amendment applies only to limitations the federal government seeks to impose on this right." This contrasted with the Ninth Circuit decision on Nordyke v. King, which upheld the Second Amendment as a deeply held right embodied in the Constitution that limits state law. ^[7]

In U.S. v. Sanchez-Villar, Judge Sotomayor joined a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit which held that "the right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right."

Free Speech

Judge Sotomayor appears to believe in a strong right to free speech.

Judge Sotomayor dissented in Pappas v. Giuliani, 290 F.3d 143, 155 (2d Cir. N.Y. 2002):

"The Court holds that the government does not violate the First Amendment when it fires a police department employee for racially inflammatory speech -- where the speech consists of mailings in which the employee did not identify himself, let alone connect himself to the police department; where the speech occurred away from the office and on the employee's own time; where the employee's position involved no policymaking authority or public contact; where there is virtually no evidence of workplace disruption resulting directly from the speech; and where it ultimately required the investigatory resources of two police departments to bring the speech to the attention of the community. Precedent requires us to consider these factors as we apply the Pickering balancing test, and each counsels against granting summary judgment in favor of the police department employer. To be sure, I find the speech in this case patently offensive, hateful, and insulting. The Court should not, however, gloss over three decades of jurisprudence and the centrality of First Amendment freedoms in our lives because it is confronted with speech it does not like and because a government employer fears a potential public response that it alone precipitated."

Judge Sotomayor wrote a strong opinion in favor of free speech to the point of denying qualified immunity for police officers who interfered with a protest in Papineau v. Parmley, 465 F.3d 46 (2d Cir. 2006).

Title IX

In Pell v. Trustees of Columbia Univ., 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 407 (1998), Sotomayor quoted Kracunas v. Iona College, 119 F.3d 80, 85 (2d Cir. 1997): "When a teacher sexually harasses a student, that teacher discriminates on the basis of sex in violation of Title IX."

Judicial Activism

"She is a rule-bound pragmatist--very geared toward determining what the right answer is and what the law dictates, but her general approach is, unsurprisingly, influenced by her unique background," says one former clerk.^[8]

ACLJ warns of her record of judicial activism. "Will she embrace her past statement that the “court of appeals is where policy is made?” This nomination raises serious questions about the issue of legislating from the bench."^[9]

Background

She graduated from Princeton University in 1976 and earned her law degree from Yale Universityin 1979. Sotomayor was appointed a federal district court judge in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush and then elevated to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton.

Sonia Sotomayor is of Puerto Rican descent, and was born and raised in Bronx, NY. She graduated from Cardinal Spellman High School in 1972, which is a Catholic school, but it is uncertain where she currently stands in terms of religion.

On August 14, 1976, Sonia Sotomayor married Kevin Edward Noonan. However, they divorced in 1983 with no children.^[10]

"Some sources, including Pete Williams, reported that the Judge is a Catholic. However, there has not yet been any indication of whether that report is accurate and, if so, if she actually practices her faith."^[11]

"Sotomayor attended Catholic schools, but we haven't yet confirmed that she is, in fact, Catholic. If she is, she would become the sixth Catholic justice on the current Supreme Court."^[12]

"... the Bronx-born Sotomayor has been regarded as a potential high court nominee by several presidents, both Republican and Democrat. Reared by her widowed mother after the death of her father, a tool-and-die worker, she has an attractive life narrative and an even more attractive resumé. She was an editor of the Yale Law Review, did heavy lifting as a prosecutor under legendary New York County District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, and worked in private practice as an intellectual property litigator. She was first appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush, then to the appeals court by President Clinton." ^[13]

Concerns

"Wise Latinas"

In a speech in 2001, Sotomayor said "she believes it is appropriate for a judge to consider their “experiences as women and people of color” in their decision making, which she believes should “affect our decisions.”"^[14]

Sotomayor agrees with the goal of abstract justice, but also agrees with strongly held conservative views that there are real differences between men and women. Referring to a law article by Judge Cedarbaum, she notes that Cedarbaum, "believes that judges must transcend their personal sympathies and prejudices and aspire to achieve a greater degree of fairness and integrity based on the reason of law." Sotomayor in response said, "I agree with and attempt to work toward Judge Cedarbaum's aspiration." But she went on:

"I wonder whether achieving that goal is possible in all or even in most cases. And I wonder whether by ignoring our differences as women or men of color we do a disservice both to the law and society. ...I accept the thesis ...that in any group of human beings there is a diversity of opinion because there is both a diversity of experiences and of thought.

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure... that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.^[15]

Other concerns

• Abortion opponents reacted strongly against Sotomayor's nomination Tuesday. Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, called Sotomayor "a radical pick that divides America." []

"The most consistent concern was that Sotomayor, although an able lawyer, was "not that smart and kind of a bully on the bench," as one former Second Circuit clerk for another judge put it."^[16]

"Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee called Sotomayor’s appointment “the clearest indication yet that President Obama’s campaign promises to be a centrist and think in a bipartisan way were mere rhetoric.”^[17]

"Charmaine Yoest, the president of Americans United for Life, blasted Sotomayor as “a radical pick that divides America. She believes the role of the Court is to set policy, which is exactly the philosophy that led to the Supreme Court turning into the National Abortion Control Board."^[18]

Sotomayor is a member of National Council of La Raza, a group that's promoted driver's licenses for illegal aliens, amnesty programs, and no immigration law enforcement by local and state police. ^[19]

References

1. ↑ Puerto Rico has been part of the U.S. since 1898, and residents gained full citizenship in 1917.
2. ↑ See United States v. Ni Fa Yi, 951 F. Supp. 42 (S.D.N.Y. 1997).
3. ↑ See Charles Savage, "On Sotomayor, Some Abortion Rights Backers Show Unease," New York Times May 27, 2009
4. ↑ http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2009/05/26/sotomayors-abortion-ruling.aspx
5. ↑ http://www.aclj.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=3322
6. ↑ http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2009/05/sotomayor-is-high-court-pick-here-are.html
7. ↑ Sotomayor Hostile to Gun Rights, Scholar Says Newsmax, May 27, 2009
8. ↑ http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=45d56e6f-f497-4b19-9c63-04e10199a085
9. ↑ http://www.aclj.org/TrialNotebook/Read.aspx?id=782
10. ↑ http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/politics&id=6831739
11. ↑ http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=33654
12. ↑ http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/politics&id=6831739
13. ↑ http://abajournal.com/news/who_will_replace_justice_souter
14. ↑ http://www.verumserum.com/?p=5306&cpage=1
15. ↑ Sotomayor, "A Latina Judge’s Voice," (2002), online edition
16. ↑ http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=45d56e6f-f497-4b19-9c63-04e10199a085
17. ↑ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22965.html
18. ↑ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22965.html
19. ↑ Sonia Sotomayor 'La Raza member' WND, May 27, 2009

See also

• Analysis of Sotomayor's judicial philosophy