This post contains some quick takes and many quotations from the first real day of the hearings. Let’s begin with the bottom line: Judge Sonia Sotomayor did not impress, but it probably does not matter. Her goal today was to avoid slipping and saying something that could get her into trouble. On that count, mission accomplished. More remarkable, though, was the use of conservative language and ideas by both sides of the Committee and by the nominee herself. Today, a nominee for the High Court must at least pay lip …
The old adage, “As goes California, so goes the nation,” could foreshadow troubling years ahead when it comes to economic prosperity in the United States. And if the California Air Resources Board (CARB) moves forward with implementing costly regulations to reduce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions, it could serve as a precursor to what the U.S., specifically small businesses and American families, will face under a nationwide cap and trade program. The Global Warming Solutions Act, also known as AB32, is a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in …
Rep. Marsha Blackburn has seen the future of health care in America that the Left wants to implement. Blackburn’s home state of Tennessee implemented TennCare, a Medicaid style program in 1994. The results were predictable. Employers moved employees onto TennCare because the subsidized public plan appeared to cost less. “As a result of this, insurance rates for those who have private coverage were going through the roof,” said Blackburn who spoke at Heritage’s weekly Blogger Briefing today.
President Barack Obama’s push for government-run health care has proceeded in three separate phases… and we’re just entering the last. Phase One: Fantasy Football. The President’s push for health reform began in pure fantasy land. The Obama administration’s first budget was based on rosy economic assumptions that no independent, reputable economist believed at the time. Obama’s economic experts assumed the economy would only contract by 1.2% this year. As we pointed out at the time, the economy was already contracting at an annualized rate of over 5%. The Obama budget …
Judge Sonia Sotomayor announced today her admiration for Justice Benjamin Cardozo, who served for 6 years on the Supreme Court after nearly 30 on the New York Court of Appeals. Let’s hope she misspoke, as she has admitted to doing frequently in her speeches and written remarks. Cardozo, she said, believes that “the facts drive the law and the conclusion that the law will apply to that case,” and had “great respect” for precedent, the legislative branch, and the Constitution. Unfortunately for Cardozo, the facts and the law were often …
Our latest post takes us to Austin, Texas. Consumers are suffering from higher electricity prices, stemming from a renewable energy push that allows consumers to opt into plans to buy their electricity from renewable energy. The problem is, people aren’t buying it anymore, because it’s too expensive. The obvious solution? Spread the costs to all consumers. A recent article in the American-Statesman elaborates: For the past decade, Austin’s ambition to become the world’s clean-energy capital has been best exemplified by one effort: GreenChoice, a program that sells electricity generated entirely from …
The Waxman-Markey energy tax plan will have all sorts of unwanted side effects. As the healthcare debate ramps up, it’s worth noting problems misguided global warming legislation can generate for medical care. Though it would be nearly impossible to trace all the impacts of higher energy costs on medical services, one broad measure is the impact on the costs of medical care. By driving up energy costs, Waxman-Markey will drive up the costs of running hospitals, manufacturing medical equipment, producing drugs, driving ambulances, and virtually every other component of our …
So said Judge Sotomaytor in response to a question by Sen. Kohl on racial discrimination and diversity. But what about Chief Justice Roberts’s elegant statement to the contrary on racial relations and equality? “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” What kind of “effort” matters, too. Does she mean still more state-sanctioned or -required discrimination? That’s a question to which the Senate must demand a response.
As described here, each day during the confirmation hearing I will feature an activist case and a troubling quote from Judge Sotomayor. Today’s quote comes from her 2001 speech at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where Judge Sotomayor made the following troubling statement regarding judicial impartiality: Judge Cedarbaum nevertheless believes that judges must transcend their personal sympathies and prejudices and aspire to achieve a greater degree of fairness and integrity based on the reason of law. Although I agree with and attempt to work toward Judge Cedarbaum’s …
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is currently questioning Judge Sonia Sotomayor about her Ricci v. DeStefano decision. Yesterday at Bench Memos, Heritage fellow Robert Alt blogged about Sotomayor’s role in the case: Ed Whelan has rightly referred to Judge Sotomayor’s dismissive procedural treatment of the Ricci case—in which the panel simply affirmed on the basis of the district court opinion in a single paragraph instead of actually issuing a substantive opinion—as “shenanigans.” Stuart Taylor has a must read commentary explaining just how this procedural maneuver very nearly shielded the case from …
