Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler

Elaborating on his strong words about Judge Sotomayor’s hearing performance, Georgetown law professor Louis Michael Seidman writes: I want to elaborate on some of the (perhaps intemperate) comments I made last night. There’s no denying that Republicans on the committee put Judge Sotomayor in a difficult moral position, and I need not elaborate on their […]

Senator Dianne Feinstein asked Judge Sotomayor about the federal government’s Commerce Clause power today. One question on the commerce clause in the Constitution. That clause, as you well know, is used to pass laws in a variety of contexts, from protecting schools from guns to highway safety to laws on violent crime, child pornography, laws […]

On June 7, 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard oral argument in Connecticut v. American Electric Power, an action against major utilities seeking injunctive relief for their alleged contributions to the “public nuisance” of global climate change. Judge Sotomayor was on the three-judge panel that heard the case. In 2007, […]

The second day of the Sotomayor confirmation hearing — the first in which she answered question — revealed relatively little. Judge Sotomayor played defense all day long — delivering cautious, deliberate answers to even the most pointed questions — under the (probably correct) assumption that if she said little of substance, she wouldn’t give her […]

One of the more interesting parts of today’s hearings was the following exchange between Judge Sotomayor and Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ). KYL: Let me ask you about what the president said — and I talked about it in my opening statement — whether you agree with him. He used two different analogies. He talked once […]

From Part II of the Federalist Society’s “Originally Speaking” Debate on the Sotomayor nomination: Speaking only for myself (I guess that’s obvious), I was completely disgusted by Judge Sotomayor’s testimony today. If she was not perjuring herself, she is intellectually unqualified to be on the Supreme Court. If she was perjuring herself, she is morally […]

Yesterday’s opening session of the Sotomayor hearings did not reveal much about the nominee, but may have previewed each side’s strategy: Democrats will stress her biography and experience; Republicans will raise concerns about specific cases and quotes, but reserve judgment. I contributed additional analysis to the Washington Post‘s “Opening Arguments” blog here. On thing that […]

The NYT publishes questions for Judge Sotomayor from Kathleen Sullivan, Michael Chertoff, Alberto Gonzales, Ann Althouse, James MacGregor Burns, Stephen Carter, and Ronald Dworkin.

One criticism of Judge Sonia Sotomayor regarding the Ricci case is that her decision to join an unpublished summary disposition of the case showed a lack of judgment. If the Supreme Court found the case cert-worthy, some argue, then it was certainly worth more than a one-paragraph, unpublished summary order, right? Perhaps. Cases disposed of […]

The full list of Senator John Cornyn’s “Daily Questions for Judge Sotomayor” are available here.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer laughs at the idea they should read substantive legislation before they enact it. Jeff Jacoby doesn’t think its funny. Senators and representatives who vote on bills they haven

Senate Republicans opted to call New Haven firefighters Frank Ricci and Ben Vargas to testify at Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings in order to score political points against Judge Sotomayor over the issue of affirmative action. Now Judge Sotomayor’s advocates are seeking to take Frank Ricci down a notch so as to blunt any effect of […]

A few weeks ago, the Obama Administration officially abandoned the President’s “Sunlight before Signing” campaign pledge that the White House would post all legislation passed by Congress for at least five days before the President would sign it. In making this announcement, the Administration maintained that it would comply with the spirit, if not the […]

On Tuesday, I noted the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s decision in SoundExchange, Inc. v. Librarian of Congress, in which it largely rejected a challenge to royalty rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board. Judge Kavanaugh wrote a separate concurrence noting that the manner of the CRB’s appointment raises constitutional concerns. Yet […]

As state regulators discover yoga is an “industry,” they’ve rushed in to regulate, and now the yoga “industry” is fighting back. The NYT reports: Citing laws that govern vocational schools, like those for hairdressers and truck drivers, regulators have begun to require licenses for yoga schools that train instructors, with all the fees, inspections and […]