rssSome Justices Seem Wary of New Member
Friday, September 04, 2009 at 10:44 am
- 8 Comments
Excerpts released by C-SPAN in advance of its upcoming series on the Supreme Court, scheduled to begin airing October 4, suggest that some of the more conservative justices on the court are more wary of the impact their new colleague, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, may have on the court’s dynamic.
“To some extent, it’s unsettling,” says Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. “You quickly get to view the court as . . . composed of these members, and it becomes kind of hard to think of it as involving anyone else. I suspect it’s like people look at their families.”
“It’s stressful for us because we so admire our colleagues,” adds Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. “We wonder, oh, will it ever be the same?”
“It changes the whole family,” agrees Justice Clarence Thomas. “It’s different. … I have to admit you grow very fond of the court that you spend a long time on. … You get comfortable with that, and then it changes. And now it’s changing again. So the institution, the Nine, is different, the reaction is different. You get to learn each other and you have to start all over, the chemistry is different.”
Although Justice Sotomayor has already participated in some decisions, including a dissent from the court’s refusal to consider a death penalty case involving a potentially innocent man, on Tuesday the new court will hear its first oral arguments, beginning with the much-anticipated campaign finance case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
–
8 Comments
Comment posted September 4, 2009 @ 3:11 pm
Odd that only the ultra-right side of the court has misgivings? As if change is not part of the program? Diversity is not allowed? People with different opinions from what they are accustom to are not allowed? But we allow them to interpret the meaning of the Law.
Comment posted September 4, 2009 @ 7:20 pm
Poor babies. Guess they skipped the “meet new friends” part of Kindergarten!
Comment posted September 4, 2009 @ 7:43 pm
Roberts has been on the court for so many long years now, so I can see how he might get a little flustered by a change its dynamic.
Comment posted September 4, 2009 @ 7:49 pm
Teach her to be unwhite and unmale. Maybe if she went for coffee and, you know, picked up around the office and like that.
Comment posted September 4, 2009 @ 7:57 pm
Something tells me that those justices are not sympathetic to the plight of people who are harassed in the workplace.
Comment posted September 4, 2009 @ 7:59 pm
I've seen this spun the same way elsewhere as well. Are these justices really saying they don't want Sonia Sotomayor in their family, or is this more about the relatively mild grief they feel about losing David Souter, maybe even that they're Supreme Court Justices and they expect to have such complete control over their lives that they notice even the most minor disturbance? I can't tell from the full versions of these excerpts just released, much less these chopped up versions presented here.
How many other possibilities do these comments suggest besides wariness? There are so many writers, left, right, and center who are either incable of thinking of other possibilities or don't want them interfering with their spin. And so much of the public falls for that, especially the conformist and trusting right, even more so the truly crazy right.
I wish I saw more people holding writers accountable for spin like this. This is a terrible piece. Why not wait for the actual interviews to be aired and decide for yourself?
Pingback posted September 4, 2009 @ 9:11 pm
[...] less than warm and fuzzy welcome for Sonia [...]
Comment posted October 1, 2009 @ 9:25 am
Everyone is intitled to an opinion.
The history of the world has a beginning of knowledge and intelligence in human existence. Logically we have proven that there is only right or wrong. Biblically we have teachings that there is only right or wrong. Scientifically and mathmatically we have proven that there is only right or wrong.
The justices have the job of determining finite right or wrong in cases. Their opinions could be anything. They must answer the question of what is right in each case.
Opinions are not what we are looking for. To “change” what is right is not what we are looking for. A gray matter void where everyones opinion fits is not what we are looking for.
We need to know what is right.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
