PostPartisan - Quick takes by The Post's opinion writers - July 12, 2009

What Do We Know Now About Sotomayor?

By Eva Rodriguez So, after all those hours and hours of testimony, what did we learn about Sonia Sotomayor? We got a sense that the Supreme Court nominee is fluent in constitutional case law. When asked about her views on...

The Meaning of Sotomayor's Retreat

Listening to Sonia Sotomayor a few years ago, say at a legal conference, one would have heard a mainstream liberal -- emphasizing the superiority of her bottom-up minority experience, hinting at the role of judges in making policy and...

Sotomayor Hearings: Who's in the Hot Seat Now?

By Eva Rodriguez Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., entered this fourth day of Supreme Court confirmation hearings with seeming concern about how all this is playing back home. During an appearance on C-SPAN earlier today, he had been asked about a...

The 'New' GM?

By Adam Ross General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson rolled out the 2010 Buick Lacrosse yesterday, the company’s first release since emerging from bankruptcy five days ago. “The new GM cannot survive with building competitive vehicles,” he told the Detroit News....

Perry Mason, Meet Sonia Sotomayor

By Eva Rodriguez First there was Nancy Drew. Now, it's Perry Mason. Sonia Sotomayor mentioned Nancy as an influence when first nominated by the president. Now, she's given Perry a starring role. Sotomayor brought up the TV lawyer (played by...

Sotomayor's Larry Summers Defense

Sonia Sotomayor has taken a lot of heat from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee for her comment that, “Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my...

Obama-ball

I'm a Nats fan and proud of it. I was a tad annoyed that President Obama skipped throwing out the first pitch at Nationals Park this season. And he compounded the diss last night from the Fox broadcast booth...

Sotomayor: The Apology Solution

Judge Sonia Sotomayor employed a classic and nearly always effective solution to the problem of explaining away public words that have become a problem: back away from them, apologize, and move on. As The Post is reporting, Sotomayor “described...

Sotomayor v. Obama

By Eva Rodriguez In a surprisingly sharp, apparently spontaneous and refreshingly candid moment -- especially for a confirmation hearing -- Sonia Sotomayor refused to endorse President Obama's characterization of judges and judging. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) asked, "Do you agree...

The Wise Latina Method

WWWLD? That’s the question Sen. Jeff Sessions and the other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee should ask themselves after this morning’s confirmation hearings: What Would a Wise Latina Do? Judge Sonia Sotomayor explained it all, I thought, quite well....

Leahy to Sotomayor: Sis Boom Bah

By Eva Rodriguez "Cheerleader" would be a more appropriate title than "chairman" for Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). Leahy, who wields the gavel in the Sotomayor confirmation hearing, has used his position and his power to propagandize on behalf of...

Sotomayor's Unconvincing Backpedaling

By Eva Rodriguez I'm surprised and disturbed by how many times today Sonia Sotomayor has backed off of or provided less-than-convincing explanations for some of her more controversial speeches about the role of gender and ethnicity in judicial decision-making. Sotomayor's...

Sonia Sotomayor Speaks -- and Feels

Finally, we got to hear from Sonia Sotomayor. The key line -- emphatically delivered -- was an arrow straight through the heart of her detractors: "As an assistant District Attorney in New York.... I saw children exploited and abused....

Does Sotomayor Matter Politically?

A prominent article in The Post this morning suggests that “The battle over President Obama’s first court nominee is also likely to have broad and long-lasting political implications for the president and both political parties.” Or maybe not. Consider:...

At Least One Senator Is Intellectually Honest

By Eva Rodriguez Many of us have noted how pointed Sen. Jeff Sessions’s opening statement was at the start of the Sotomayor confirmation hearings. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), on the other hand, was a real class act and one of...

Sessions Takes the Gloves Off

By Eva Rodriguez The gloves are off -- at least for now. In his opening statement, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, left little doubt that he and some other Republicans on the...

Sotomayor Hearings: Sen. Sessions, Meet Sen. Hatch

As the hearings on Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court opened this morning, the contrast between Democratic supporters of President Barack Obama’s first nominee and the Republicans likely to oppose her elevation was perfectly predictable. Not necessarily so...

An Unexpected Start to the Sotomayor Hearings

The parties’ senior representatives on the Senate Judiciary Committee have just finished their opening statements in Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) mounted a defense of the nominee seemingly focused on the Ricci case -- the ruling...

Palin Deserves a Little Sympathy

By Steven Stein As the country mourns Michael Jackson, we may be overlooking another public figure who deserves our sympathy. That person, of course, is Sarah Palin. Last time we checked in with As Alaska Turns, Palin was alternately feuding...

What to Watch for in Sotomayor's Confirmation Hearings

By Eva Rodriguez Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing could easily be billed as “The Wise Latina Woman" vs. “The White Firefighters." The first phrase, of course, refers to comments made by the Supreme Court nominee that the life experiences of a...

Fighting Obama's Nanny State

In President Obama’s op-ed on the topic of the economy, here are some words you won’t find: profits, investment, incentives, taxes, risk, enterprise or markets. Or freedom, or liberty. So, though he claims to want to build a “foundation...

PostPartisan: July 12, 2009 - July 18, 2009