Sotomayor, Kagan shift Supreme Court debates to the left

[Harry Hope]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-arguments-20101226,0,2050179.story

Sotomayor, Kagan shift Supreme Court debates to the left

The liberal wing is no longer drowned out by Scalia and his fellow conservatives during oral arguments.

By David G. Savage, Washington Bureau

December 26, 2010

Reporting from Washington —

For most of the last two decades, Supreme Court conservatives led by Justice Antonin Scalia dominated the debates during oral arguments. They greeted advocates for liberal causes with sharp and sometimes caustic questions, putting them on the defensive from the opening minute.

But the tenor of the debate has changed in recent months, now that President Obama's two appointees to the court, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, have joined the fray and reenergized the liberal wing.

Gone are the mismatches where the Scalia wing overshadowed reserved and soft-spoken liberals like now-retired Justices David H. Souter and John Paul Stevens. Instead, the liberals often take the lead and press attorneys defending the states or corporations.

"They're clearly on a roll," said Washington attorney Lisa S. Blatt, who has argued regularly before the high court. "They are engaged and really active. It just feels like a different place."

____________________________________________

my,my...how utterly refreshing.

Harry

[rpannier]

1. K&R

Someone needs to offset Scalia
Thomas not so much since his opinion on everything is, "What Scalia said."

[calimary]

5. Absolutely! We need SEVERAL someones to offset scalia.

How soon is he gonna do everybody a favor and retire? And hopefully take clarence thomas with him? And that smug, snot-nosed alito, too, who had the gall during the State of the Union speech to mouth off - on a subject (the "Citizens United" ruling) about which he was COMPLETELY and ABSURDLY wrong. And that IDIOT john roberts - who's so stupid he couldn't even get the Inaugural Oath correct (and it's not as though he didn't have plenty of advance notice and time to practice it)? He's an IDIOT. I'm sorry. I can't think anything else about him after watching his disgraceful, historically deplorable performance that day. He's an IDIOT. Complete, unabridged, and card-carrying. He isn't fit to lead a pre-school class, much less the highest court in the land. And I will say that about him whenever his name comes up. He needs to be tarred and feathered with that pathetic, humiliating moment. So that NOBODY forgets, EVER.

[zbdent]

9. retire? SCALIA???

They'll do a Strom Thurmond on the U.S. ... keep his body heroically "alive", just to make sure that Obama or a Dem couldn't put a "moderate" in place of the far-righty Scalia is ... you know, "Money and Corporations are constitutionally U.S. citizens."

[calimary]

11. Well, I can dream, can't I?

And save a nice big Italian "salute" for him on that very happy day. I just hope it happens when there's a DEM in the White House.

[bluestate10]

13. Scalia is a few boxes of doughnuts from retirement.

Scalia will leave in due course. We just need to focus on getting Obama re-elected. With Obama in place, retiring justices that give opinions for our views can be replaced with like minds and any retiring conservative can be replaced with a more open minded justice. The ones that concern me are Thomas and Alio, they are younger and healthier than Scalia and are total nut-cases.

[Lost-in-FL]

23. I'm just glad it is Scalia...

cause if it was Dick Cheney we are f@&d... That sucker is still around.

[Liberal_in_LA]

38. Yep. DU forgets that Obama appointed a solidly liberal judge

[MindandSoul]

42. I heard arsenic tastes and looks a lot like powdered sugar!!! (just kidding. . .of course!

[LiberalFighter]

19. Possibility increases the longer Obama is President.

All the more reason for Obama to be re-elected and especially important to regain strong control of both House and Senate.

Consider that additional appointees of Obama continue to be going our way and both Scalia and Thomas see the light and decide to bug out. Scalia is at retirement age while Thomas still has a few years after a 2nd term Obama. BUT, with his (no comment) wife's political association there may be a job lined up that will pay more and he decides he rather follow a different path. And the more the court leans more to the left the more likely this will happen as he will feel even more left out and feel like a minority that he should be.

[NYC Liberal]

10. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure Scalia will be there til he is dead.

Or at the very least he will wait to retire when we have another right-wing president in the future.

The best we can hope for is to have a good majority in the Senate to force that right-wing president to appoint someone more moderate, or filibuster anyone who isn't.

[zbdent]

26. "til he is dead" ... and then some ...

see #9

[robinlynne]

49. Yes. Right wing judges NEVER retire under a D president.

[NYC Liberal]

54. Remember what Sandra Day O'Connor said when Florida was called for Gore?

"Oh no, this is terrible!"

Yep.

[robinlynne]

55. I'll never forget her. She is responsible for those 8 years and she knows it.

[Hamlette]

30. Scalia isn't as big a problem as Roberts and Alito to a lesser extent

Scalia is so obnoxious that he was unable to bring anyone along with him (except of course, other ideologues like himself). That was our only saving grace with Scalia. He's such a complete asshole he couldn't convince anyone in "the middle" (think Warren in Brown v Board of Education where he took a divided court and convinced them it had to be a unanimous opinion).

Roberts, on the other hand, appears to be a smooth talker. He appears to be a reasonable person and thereby exercised greater influence IMHO than Scalia.

Nice to have two liberal fighters on the court.

The next step for dems is to primary Obama so we lose in 2012 and get ever more conservatives like Roberts to offset our gains. Down with Obama! Long live "progressives"!

Or, we could back the fuck off, get four more years and perhaps two more appointments. (Plus hundreds of lower court appointments which are also of great importance.)

There is a difference between holding his feet to the fire and burning him at the stake.

[rpannier]

52. Disagree with you in part

Plus hundreds of lower court appointments which are also of great importance

Unless they do something about filibustering, those lower court appointments will die the same death that Clinton's appointmentsa did. They only difference is, Helms was the Chairman and just refused to move the appointments to a vote

[NYC Liberal]

2. I thought Sotomayor and Kagan were center-right corporatists

who would do nothing to change the court. :shrug:

Great news!

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bluestate10]

15. Truly amazing. Maybe President Obama need to dung gold bricks for some. nt. :-(

[elleng]

12. BIG mistake!

They are and will be GREAT!

[unkachuck]

18. "I thought Sotomayor and Kagan were center-right corporatists..."

....true, but if you look hard enough, you will find good in everyone; some more gooder than others....

....that being said, shifting debates is not exactly the same as shifting decisions....still, in general, Obama did good....

[MadMaddie]

32. He..he..

I was thinking the same thing....

[MindandSoul]

43. I guess Obama KNEW better! LOL!

[Skittles]

3. thanking Obama

off to the Greatest Page with ye

[onehandle]

4. But the decisions stay to the Right and will be there for decades. nt

[dennis4868]

8. how do you know that.?

[onehandle]

39. The GOP has a solid five on this court. Obama will only get to replace 'liberals.'

Gingsburg will be next. None of the Republicans will step down until President Rubio is in office in 2016.

[AndyTiedye]

14. Unless Scalia and the Other Wingnuts Go Hunting Often With Dick Cheney

they will likely be on the Supreme Court for decades to come.

OTOH, we know that Scalia actually has been known to go hunting with Dick Cheney, so…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fcYKVj23FU

[bluestate10]

16. Scalia is in bad health.

The only concern that I have is that Gingsburg is not much better. My concern is another reason why the bashing of Obama by the far left is entirely ill advised. Obama will appoint SCJ's that the left will either like, or at least not :-(~ puke when they think of them.

[onehandle]

37. Scalia will stick it out until 2016 when President Rubio takes office.

The GOP will continue to hold SCOTUS for decades.

[CBHagman]

51. I had heard a rumor he was seriously considering retiring.

I hadn't heard about the state of his health.

[dennis4868]

6. It's Obama's fault....

[bluestate10]

17. Yes.

Did you know that Obama was personally responsible for the death of liberalism? Actually not so, but if you read the posts of some, maybe?......

[aquart]

20. Goodness. I hope those uppity women don't give Scalia an apoplexy.

[MindandSoul]

44. Really? . . .I was hoping they would! LOL!

[CBHagman]

21. Good to hear this.

I figured both Sotomayor and Kagan would conduct lively debates, but I frankly didn't know how or if those would alter the ideological cast of the court. Don't get me wrong; I was pleased to see both of them confirmed.

[MadMaddie]

33. What's interesting is that both women

in the short time that they have been there have asked more questions then Thomas. Thomas is just a waste of space he votes strictly how Scalia votes.

We need to make sure that we get more on the court like Kagen and Sotomoyor.

[CBHagman]

34. "More questions than Thomas" is an understatement.

The word is that Thomas simply doesn't ask questions. I've eaten pieces of toast that could have conducted livelier discussions than that particular associate justice.

As for company for Kagan and Sotomayor, I heard a rumor (May it come true) that Scalia was definitely getting ready to retire soon. I'd love it if Obama could name three justices to the Supreme Court during his first term alone, but of course the 'cans aren't going to be happy about that.

And as for the pool of potential justices, might I propose natives of Queens and Staten Island for the next nominees? ;-)

[NHDemProg]

22. Towards the left...

...away from the right. Both work for me. Maybe President Obama can single out Alito for his shaking his head (correct me if it wasn't him) during the next State of the Union address.

[lillypaddle]

24. This should be reason alone

to make sure President Obama is reelected. The SCOTUS is still a scary place; I can only imagine what would happen if rethugs were in power. We must ensure there are no more Scalias, Alitos, Roberts in the years to come. Rec.

[Harry Hope]

25. You left out my favorite...Clarence "pubic hair" Thomas

[90-percent]

27. Question:

Why are we not applying SECOND AMENDMENT SOLUTIONS to the extreme right part of the SC?

If it's good enough for Sharon Angle, it should be good enough for us gun fearing liberals, yes?

-90% Jimmy

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[spooky3]

28. exactly the "judicial temperament" that is required to deal with RW activists

Obama made great selections.

[UTUSN]

29. Yet there was criticism of both from the Left: that SOTOMAYOR was an unknown quantity and KAGAN

was supposed to be a stealth wingnut.

[AlbertCat]

35. Yet there was criticism of both from the Left

Oh NO!!!!! You mean "the left" didn't just nod their heads and march in lock step, like the Right does? What can we DO about that????? I can't stand a party that isn't right about everything all the time... like the GOP is.

[UTUSN]

40. Let's see, since when does "lock step" equate with "being right"?!1

And I'm sure you aren't saying that I'm saying the wingnuts are "right about everything" or have ever been.


Maybe a re-wording on my part would help: SOME on the left SIDE...

[trud]

31. After being quite disappointed in Obama,

I am feeling better and better about him lately.

[Divine Discontent]

36. This is one of the matters that Obama hit the proverbial home run with

He may have failed on some issues, moderately succeeded on others, and did very well on even more, but this - the Supreme Court, well... what more can be said! I am very thankful these two justices are a part of the court, and hope they stay there for an extremely long period of time. Kudos to the president for such a success!

[MindandSoul]

41. Good news, and badly needed. . .Could we get one more in, please!!!

Don't wish any of the "right wing" justice to die. . .but . . .could they just chose to retire???
I know. . .not likely!

[scribble]

45. Nonsense, nonsense ...

Where were these folks when the United Citizens' decision came down?




sc

[DaveinJapan]

48. Justice Sotomayor voted with the minority, Kagan was not yet on the bench

What do you mean "nonsense"? You DO understand the makeup of the court, don't you? There's a solid four block of Conservative voters, and as long as the swing voter is Kennedy nothing will change, votes wise.

It's an extremely delicate balance right now, and could get much worse (believe it or not!). The only hope is that one of the four cons retires or dies or is otherwise removed from the bench (my personal favorite scenario since I think it *should* happen though I know it never will) while a Democrat is in office, assuming the Democrat picks a judge to the left of Kennedy in that case (I fear bigtime political pressure if a Democrat is called upon to replace the likes of Scalia).

[FailureToCommunicate]

46. As cynical as any here might be...this is one diamond hard reason to VOTE

[tavalon]

47. Whenever I am at my rope's end with Obama, it's these two appointments

I think of.

[ProgressOnTheMove]

50. They were the perfect selections and as Hartmann always highlights the supreme court is everything i...

it's how democracy took a back seat in the proceedings. A true Democrat like the President can only change that.

[hansberrym]

53. If Kelo or Raich were reheard today, would the outcome be any different?

The question is, which "left" will Sotomayor and Kagan join? Will they join the authoritarian left that gave us Kelo and Raich, or will they be more concerned with individual liberty as was Louis Brandeis?