Obama nominates NewyoRican female to SCOTUS

[Patroklos]

I don't prefer any left of center judge

I would have prefered anyone whose nomination annoucement was more concerned with their professional qualifications instead of any number of irrelevancies, including Sotomeyor if Obama had felt like picking her for those reasons.

[Arrian]

I don't prefer any left of center judge

No ****, sherlock. I almost assuredly wouldn't have liked a McCain nominee.

-Arrian

[Patroklos]

Did my sarcastic smilie not load fast enough for you?

[DinoDoc]

Is there a left-of-center judge you would have preferred, Patroklos?

One that subscribes to Legal Positivism.

[Arrian]

By the way, St. Ronnie:

Within the guidelines of excellence, appointments can carry enormous symbolic significance. This permits us to guide by example, to show how deep our commitment is and to give meaning to what we profess.

One way I intend to live up to that commitment is to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court.

I am announcing today that one of the first Supreme Court vacancies in my administration will be filled by the most qualified woman I can find, one who meets the high standards I will demand for all my appointments.

It is time for a woman to sit among our highest jurists. I will also seek out women to appoint to other federal courts in an effort to bring about a better balance on the federal bench.

Oh noes! Identity politics!

-Arrian

[Patroklos]

So? Reagan was wrong to approach it that way as well.

[DinoDoc]

I'm confused, Arrian. Are you claiming she's an AA pick or just saying that there's nothing wrong with being an AA pick?

[Arrian]

You are easily confused.

There seems to be a fairly large pool of qualified people, and that pool includes men, women, white people, black people, hispanic people, etc. The court is a tad low on females and has no hispanic presence. Given a large pool of qualified judges, I don't see a problem with chosing a hispanic female from the pool.

The "AA pick" smear is based on the idea that she's either not qualified or she's less qualified than some other (presumably white male?) candidate. Of course, you can't show that she's less qualified can you?

-Arrian

[Patroklos]

There seems to be a fairly large pool of qualified people, and that pool includes men, women, white people, black people, hispanic people, etc. The court is a tad low on females and has no hispanic presence. Given a large pool of qualified judges, I don't see a problem with chosing a hispanic female from the pool.

I have a huge problem with picking any professional for such a job based on race or gender. When people are not doing olympian gymnastics around it (or just waving their hand like you are), the law does too.

The "AA pick" smear is based on the idea that she's either not qualified or she's less qualified than some other (presumably white male?) candidate. Of course, you can't show that she's less qualified can you?

You are falling victim to your own strawman. Please quote who said she was not qualified.

[Ben Kenobi]

I only said she wasn't the most qualified lefty justice available, not that she's unqualified. I echo Patroklos' concerns.

[Arrian]

Try reading what I wrote again, Patty:

The "AA pick" smear is based on the idea that she's either not qualified or she's less qualified than some other (presumably white male?) candidate

No one here has yet asserted that she isn't qualified. Several have asserted that she's less qualified (than ??), but was chosen ahead of those other, more qualified candidates as an AA pick. The subtext is pretty similar: she sucks (or kinda sucks, or doesn't rock as much) but is getting in 'cause she's a latina. Damn liberals. Get off my lawn.

-Arrian

[Drake Tungsten]

What's really amusing me in this thread, though, is that many of the same folks (though not you, Imran) decrying Sotomayor's qualifications for the high court are the same hacks who, 8 months ago, were defending Palin's qualifications as a potential president.

Sotomayor for SCOTUS

Palin for VP

Hillary! for President

[Ben Kenobi]

I thought Sarah Palin was awesome because she was hot, not because she was a woman. Duh.

Get with the story dude.

[Kuciwalker]

I'd love to see the formula used to determine "most qualified for SCOTUS."

Oh, what's that you say? There isn't one? Wow. Considering how many people are loudly asserting that certain nominees are not/were not the "most qualified" I'd have thought there was a test. You know: "so-and-so got a 92, but they picked such-and-such, who only got an 85! Goddamned idenitity politics!"

-Arrian

Bad logic. Even if I'm not capable of calculating who is the most qualified, I can certainly decide in many cases that someone is not. e.g. I know for a fact that I am not the most qualified person to sit on the Supreme Court

[Kuciwalker]

There seems to be a fairly large pool of qualified people, and that pool includes men, women, white people, black people, hispanic people, etc. The court is a tad low on females and has no hispanic presence. Given a large pool of qualified judges, I don't see a problem with chosing a hispanic female from the pool.

I do. People think having women/minorities on the Supreme Court is great because it shows how far women and minorities have come. But it DOESN'T show that as long as the reason they get appointed to the court is to pander to political groups.