In another example of who really governs the United States, the land’s highest court voted 5-4 to reverse a 20-year-old ruling that prohibited corporations from spending their general treasuries on campaign ads for presidential and congressional candidates.
The Supreme Court did not reverse course on a provision that prohibits direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions. Proponents of the law’s new lenient limits have always suggested that strict spending limits on political campaigns were unconstitutional by censoring free speech.
On the other hand, the court’s dissenting view is that “The court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation,” said Justice John Paul Stevens.
Essentially, those with money – i.e. corporations and unions – will have even greater influence in federal campaigns by spending abundant sums of cash on ads geared to their politician of choice, which undoubtedly lead to government favors of all sorts. Yes, this scribe is a cynic, and this law does not benefit the little man.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor was finally confirmed by the United States’ Senate Thursday to preside over the Supreme Court, and is now officially the first Hispanic justice do so. The judge was overwhelmingly confirmed by a 68-31 vote margin.
Sotomayor’s story is the epitome of the American Dream. Raised in the rough and tumble Bronx , the Puerto Rican justice navigated through Princeton, then Yale Law School on her way to becoming a lawyer and federal district judge.
Sotomayor will be replacing the retiring Justice David Souter on the bench when she is sworn in on Saturday.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor is now one step closer to becoming the first Hispanic justice to serve on the United States’ Supreme Court after the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed her with a 13-6 vote.
Every Democrat on the committee ruled in the judge’s favor, while all but one Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC), voted against her appointment. Sotomayor must now wait for the entire Senate to vote and confirm her nomination before taking her seat on the country’s highest court.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing started earlier today with Democrats touting her rags-to-riches upbringing in The Bronx and Republicans warning that she might be a activist judge with her own agenda.
If confirmed Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic justice to serve on the nation’s highest court. The Dems have a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate which should make her confirmation a virtual certainty.
The 55-year-old Sotomayor has been a federal appeals judge in New York for the 11 years now. Prior to that she served as federal district judge for the six years prior. Born and raised in a housing project in The Bronx, Sotomayor was raised by a single mother after her father died. She attended Princeton University and Yale Law School before becoming first a prosecutor in Manhattan and later a corporate lawyer.
Here’s a sound bite of what she said during her confirmation hearing today.
With Justice David H. Souter announcing he will step down from the United States Supreme Court this June, President Barack Obama can make history by appointing Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the high court, making her the first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court.
The 54-year-old Sotomayor, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is rumored to be the frontrunner for Souter’s soon-to-be vacant seat. Described as a center-left judge, she was born and raised in the Bronx, NY and rose to prominence when President Bill Clinton appointed her to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit where she still sits.
Several news outlets such as The New York Times and the HuffingtonPost.com have Sotomayor on top of their shortlist of candidates. Other names include Solicitor General Elena Kagan; Kathleen M. Sullivan, professor of law at Stanford University; and Massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick.
