Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler

NRO has posted a copy of the White House talking points defending Sonia Sotomayor that were provided to GOP Senators in advance of the judge’s early meet-and-greets on Capitol Hill.

I have finally had the chance to read Jeffrey Toobin

If you, like me, think that the Senate majority leader might want to read something written by Judge Sonia Sotomayor before he votes to confirm her to the Supreme Court, which opinion should he read? We know he’d prefer not to read any, as he said so. Yet given that Reid does not believe in […]

Given interest in how Judge Sotomayor has approached cases involving race, the case of Brown v. City of Oneonta is worth a look. The panel opinion (as amended) is at 221 F.3d 329 (2nd Cir. 2000). The opinions respecting the denial of reharing en banc are at 235 F.3d 769 (2d Cir. 2000). Judge Sotomayor […]

The Department of Justice’s FY 2010 budget request includes materials discussing and describing the role of the Office of Legal Counsel within the Department. (Hat tip: Ed Richards at LSU.)

From Politico: “I understand that during her career, she’s written hundreds and hundreds of opinions. I haven’t read a single one of them, and if I’m fortunate before we end this, I won’t have to read one of them,

John Hasnas had a very good op-ed in the WSJ a few days on empathy, the “seen” and the “unseen.” Here’s a taste: Compassion is defined as a feeling of deep sympathy for those stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering; empathy is the ability to share in another’s emotions, […]

From today’s Washington Post: Cheney, whose youngest daughter has a longtime lesbian partner, said at the National Press Club that “people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish.” He added, however, that he does not support a federal role in the matter. “Historically, […]

Today’s WSJ reprints portions of then-Senator Obama’s explanation for his vote against the confirmation of John Roberts to be Chief Justice.

Judge Sotomayor’s participation in Ricci v. DeStefano (the New Haven firefighters case), and her “wise Latina justice” speech have fueled speculation about her approach to cases involving race. To address such concerns, SCOTUSBlog’s Tom Goldstein reviewed all of the cases involving race in which she participated on the Second Circuit. His conclusion: In sum, in […]

Tomorrow at 5:30pm I’ll be speaking to the Philadelphia Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society on the topic “Is the Roberts Court Conservative? Do the Court’s Opinions Support Its Critics?” I’ll be talking about the current Court and, as one might expect, a little bit about the possible impact of Justice Souter’s replacement. RSVP and […]

Former Republican Representative (and Libertarian presidential candidate) Bob Barr has an op-ed in today’s New York Times calling on the Supreme Court to grant the habeas petition filed on behalf of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis. Mr. Davis is facing execution for the 1989 murder of an off-duty police officer in Savannah, Ga., even […]

Today a federal district court in South Carolina will hear arguments from attorneys for South Carolina Mark Sanford that litigation over whether the state legislature can force the acceptance of federal stimulus money over the Governor’s objection should occur in federal court. Two other lawsuits have already been filed against Governor in state court seeking […]

NPR reports.

David Frum slammed Judge Sonia Sotomayor for lacking any meaningful business law experience. Bernard Harcourt cried foul. Paul Horwitz considers the evidence and renders a verdict (three actually). An interesting sidenote: As one of Horwitz’s commenters observes, Justice Thomas is the only member of the current court to have worked in-house for a corporation. UPDATE: […]