Law clerks who have worked with Sonia Sotomayor say the Supreme Court nominee does not have the intellectual and political temperment to be on America’s highest court.
The news, reported by liberal political writer Jeffery Rosen for the left-leaning New Republic last month, quotes several Second Circuit colleagues ranging from former law clerks to federal prosecutors, who are mostly Democrat Party members. While having best wishes for Sotomayor, none of them had praise, “expressed questions about her temperament, her judicial craftsmanship, and most of all, her ability to provide an intellectual counterweight to the conservative justices.”
Writes Rosen:
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. “She has an inflated opinion of herself, and is domineering during oral arguments, but her questions aren’t penetrating and don’t get to the heart of the issue.” (During one argument, an elderly judicial colleague is said to have leaned over and said, “Will you please stop talking and let them talk?”). . . .
Her opinions, although competent, are viewed by former prosecutors as not especially clean or tight, and sometimes miss the forest for the trees. . . .
Some former clerks and prosecutors expressed concerns about her command of technical legal details: In 2001, for example, a conservative colleague, Ralph Winter, included an unusual footnote in a case suggesting that an earlier opinion by Sotomayor might have inadvertently misstated the law in a way that misled litigants.
Finally, Rosen concludes with the opinion of liberal Democrats who have worked with Sotomayor:
It’s possible that the former clerks and former prosecutors I talked to have an incomplete picture of her abilities. But they’re not motivated by sour grapes or by ideological disagreement–they’d like the most intellectually powerful and politically effective liberal justice possible. And they think that Sotomayor, although personally and professionally impressive, may not meet that demanding standard. Given the stakes, the president should obviously satisfy himself that he has a complete picture before taking a gamble.
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This bozo Sonia Sotomayer is a grim reminder of another female droll from the past, Bella Abzug! Better known as Bella the bellicose.
The comparison between the two is too apparent to be ignored;
Both are from the Bronx who became shyster lawyers and were active in Marxist causes.
The Physical features and mannerismswith the same belligerent attitude.
Speech technique.
Anyone who owns a private plane and can get me out of this mess of a country without any paperwork, please contact me. I've gone beyond the boot level and went straight to chest waders for the amount of bullshit that's going on. And there's no end in sight.