Via the LAT: Sotomayor’s record sets off few ideological alarm bells
Reporting from Washington — In nominating Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, President Obama tapped a veteran jurist whose humble upbringing and moderate-to-liberal record is unlikely to trigger an ideological battle in the Senate.
Actually, this may be true in regards to the Senate (although it depends on what the meaning of the word “battle” in this context). However, it is clearly impossible for someone to be nominated to the Court and not spark some kind of ideological battle.
I thought this was interesting from Obama’s statements on the nomination:
The president said he had considered many factors in his selection: “First and foremost is a rigorous intellect. . . . Second is a recognition of the limits of the judicial role,” noting that “a judge’s job is to interpret, not make, law.” Obama also said he wanted a nominee with “a sense of compassion, an understanding of how the world works and how ordinary people live.”
One would expect any president to say the first about a nominee, and the third item will cause some to freak out (after all, if “empathy” is problem, “compassion” has to be even moreso, yes?) However, it is the middle item that is noteworthy: the reference to interpreting not making the law. Yes, I expect that many of the president’s opponents will think that he is just paying lip service to the notion, but it strikes me as noteworthy that this notion has become such a part of American political discourse that the President felt the need to highlight it. Now, what that phrase means to Obama and to, say, George Will, no doubt is different. Still, that it is presumed to be an essential part of the qualifications of a Justice underscore how much closer we are ideologically in general than we pretend to be. If, for example, Obama really was the radical many wish to paint him as, he would not feel the need to make such statements. For that matter, were he a radical he wouldn’t have nominated Sotomayor.
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