Judge Sotomayor—Activist Judge

            I’m sure that Judge Sonia Sotomayor is a very nice person. The kind of person you would want to have as a neighbor; honest, hardworking, very well educated and she probably likes children and puppies. She would be an asset to any community. I just don’t want her on the Supreme Court and here are my reasons.

            Affirmative Action

The city of New Haven, Connecticut, threw out its firefighter promotional test when no blacks qualified for promotion. Nineteen white and one Latino firefighter claimed they were denied promotion, despite doing well on their exams, simply because there were no blacks eligible for promotion.

The white firefighters lost in the lower court and appealed. Judge Sotomayor was one of three judges on the panel that heard the case. In their unsigned ruling, Sotomayor joined the other judges in declared that the lower court was “thorough, thoughtful and well-reasoned.” The legal reasoning behind this opinion has been criticized by conservative and liberal judges and scholars, but none-the-less, the white firefighters had lost again. Undeterred they appealed to the Supreme Court. The high court agreed to hear the case as Ricci v. DeStefano and, hopefully, will rule more equitably before she has a chance to sit on the bench.

            Gun Control

Again as part of a three judge panel on the Second Circuit Court, Judge Sotomayor in Maloney v. Cuomo ruled that the second amendment right to bear arms was not binding upon the states. That is, the state could impose restrictions on the right even if the federal government could not. Although the Supreme Court had ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller, that Washington’s handgun ban was unconstitutional, she held that it did “not invalidate this longstanding principle,” that the states are not bound by the Second Amendment. Incredibly, the very liberal Ninth Circuit Court ruled in April of this year that the Second Amendment does apply to the states. This case is likely to go to the Supreme Court. If Judge Sotomayor is on the high court she could not be required to recuse herself and would likely rule as she did in the original case.

             Judicial Activism

             Judges should rule on the law as it is, not as they want it to be. If the law is faulty it is the duty of the elected representatives of the people, Congress, to change it. That is the system that the Founding Fathers established, but that is not what Judge Sotomayor believes. She believes policy should be established by unelected judges. She also knows she should not say that in public—but she did.

Many sources have quoted Judge Sotomayor’s 2002 speech before a friendly audience at Berkeley. She told her audience that it is appropriate for a judge to consider their “experiences as women and people of color,” which she said should “affect our decisions.” Minutes later she declared, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” Imagine if a white man had said that because he was white he could reach a better decision that a woman of color. He would rightly be branded a racist. Judge Sotomayor’s statement was racist.

If Judge Sotomayor is appointed to the Supreme Court we can anticipate that she will continue to support affirmative action, favor minorities over whites, limit gun rights and make up the legal framework for her decisions as she goes along.