The Rational Hysterics

Slate by Dahlia Lithwick | May. 27, 2009 (Opinion)
Republicans won't beat Sonia Sotomayor by attacking her as too darn human.

Instead of wading into a bruising identity politics war they cannot possibly win, conservatives—even the angriest conservatives—should wade into Sotomayor's vast legal writings. There are hundreds of cases for them to read and parse and quote out of context. Let's have this confirmation battle on the merits, rather than in the sinkhole of unfounded character attacks. The real problem for Sotomayor's opponents is that anyone who has closely read her ... Full Story »

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Derek Hawkins
4.0
 by Derek Hawkins - May. 27, 2009

This rounds up and does some preliminary debunking of right-wing attacks on Sotomayer. Lithwick is in top form here, with straightforward, transparent criticism of the predictable claims against Sotomayer of "judicial activism" and an inability to separate the law from her agenda.

The case against Sotomayor—to the extent it’s being made, is that her life is such a tumultuous blend of personal hardship and deep feeling that she cannot separate the law from her own agenda. In short, she feels too much.

The real problem for Sotomayor’s opponents is that anyone who has closely read her opinions won’t find much to build a case on. As the indefatigable team at SCOTUSblog has chronicled here and here, on the appeals court, Judge Sotomayor has taken a fairly moderate, text-based approach to the cases before her, placing her much closer to retiring Justice David Souter than to the late Justice William Brennan on the judicial activism spectrum.

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