Saturday, July 18, 2009

Open Forum: Justice Sotomayor - Friend or Foe?

This week the senate held confirmation hearings on Judge Sotomayor who is widely expected to receive more than enough votes in the democratic controlled congress. This would be historic in the respect that it would be the third woman nominated to the Supreme Court and the first Latina.

Not much is known about where Judge Sotomayor stands on LGBT issues, she has had very few cases that have dealt directly with queer concerns. Major LGBT advocacy groups however like the Human Rights Campaign applaud her nomination and claim "confidence" in her judicial philosophy. The mere fact that she has been nominated by democrats is not enough to assure us on how she will rule on key issues. Many republican nominated judges have turned out to be more moderate/liberal as seen in the California supreme court ruling on Prop 8, and the Iowa Supreme Court's unanimous ruling on marriage equality. Judges are supposed to rule on the merits of the case and only follow the constitution. Ideally issues on LGBT equality should not be considered a conservative nor liberal issue, but a civil rights and constitutional issue. Sadly, activist judges on the conservative end of the spectrum have failed to uphold the constitution and use loopholes in the law to justify their viewpoint.

Do you think Judge Sotomayor should be confirmed, will she be an LGBT ally on the bench or might we see a democratically appointed judge who is conservative on social issues that effect our community?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't know facts. If she has a strong Catholic background, she may let religion influence her decisions (secretly). Or, she may be the best person yet "on the bench".
I find it odd that we're not allowed to ask her real questions. Much like a job interview, where you're not allowed to ask if the person is married or has children,
Common rules make us accept people almost blindly, & then we..... wait.

Anonymous said...

What she says now, or shows via past acts, is in no way indicative of future rulings. No one can know how any nominee will rule, upon confirmation or thirty years from now.

Anonymous said...

Scalia, Alito, Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, Sotomayor, All Catholic!!! Breyer and Bader-Ginsburg are Jewish and the lone protestant Stevens. Just an FYI!

Anonymous said...

The infection of State by Church is killing the most perfect union. The Christian majority will flip soon to *something else*. What goes around kills everyone. Karma crashes are bloody messes.
Who would Jesus blame?

Post a Comment