Spring Break
Obama chooses Sotomayor for Supreme Court
Cameron Birch
Issue date: 5/29/09 Section: News
| |
|
"I think it's a really enlightened choice," Lisa McElroy, an associate professor specializing in the Supreme Court at the Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law, said.
McElroy said Obama took a lot of factors into account and he won on all of them.
The professor advocated the experience of many qualified women who have been gaining experience. McElroy also cited reports that Sotomayor was "prepared and thoughtful" and would be a proper appointee for the court.
Finally McElroy found that Sotomayor would increase the ability of Americans to relate to Supreme Court, showing Americans that the court is not made up of just "white men," but that there were a lot of people with unique perspectives.
"One of my goals as a Supreme Court junkie … I want regular Americans to understand that the Supreme Court has relevance to their lives," McElroy said.
Michael Hess, the chairman of the College Republicans, said Sotomayor has the experience on the bench and is well educated; however, there are a few issues that are troubling.
Specifically, Hess looked at a court case involving firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut who felt they were discriminated against in the city's promotion process. Currently, the Supreme Court is reviewing the case in Ricci v. DeStefano with the possibility that Sotomayor's ruling against the white, male firefighters will be overturned.
McElroy said if there were circumstances where Sotomayor could not perform her duties on the court or were not qualified, both republicans and other senators would be justified in opposition to her nomination.
"From what I have learned about her in the last few days, I think she is a good choice overall," Giancarlo Stefanoni, president of the Drexel Democrats, said.
The criticisms that have come up in the past few days were not "legitimate arguments," Stefanoni added.
"It is a good thing that [Obama] picked a minority and a woman," Stefanoni said.
According to FoxNews, Sotomayor has begun contacting other senators, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). It is likely the judge will be confirmed, as Democrats currently have a 59-seat majority in the senate.
On Sotomayor's Ivy League education, McElroy said, it held zero importance as a qualification for Supreme Court justice. Hess said individual character mattered more than education credentials, and Stefanoni did not think it necessarily qualified someone for the court.
McElroy additionally highlighted that a Supreme Court justice is the legacy of a president; the justice will carry on the president's judicial philosophy.
"The real legacy that a President leaves behind, very actively, is the justices that he names to the court," she said.
Both Obama and Sotomayor favor a flowing interpretation of the Constitution, as opposed to a specific, foundational perspective.
Stefanoni upheld this perspective, however, Hess said the constitution is very specific on many issues and sets a very strong framework for a lot of things.
Finally, a CNN blog post reports that in choosing a replacement for Justice Souter, Obama was searching for a candidate who could win over the court's frequent swing vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Be the first to comment on this story