Senator John Cornyn asked Judge Sotomayor to comment on a less famous yet still controversial statement that she made in her now infamous Wise Latina speech, in which she stated that there is no “objective stance” or “neutrality” in judging. Her explanation failed the most fundamental of Senate hearing tests—the laugh test. She explained she was simply stating that a judge must eventually make a choice in every case to side with one litigant or the other. In the end, a judge cannot be neutral to the parties: “You’re going … More

A constant refrain among defenders of Judge Sonia Sotomayor is that she is actually moderate. Ignore her insensitive statements suggesting that there could be physiological differences between ethnicities which contribute to “differences in logic and reasoning.” Ignore her lightly mocking the idea that judges don’t “make law.” Ignore her dismissing the suggestion that judges can be impartial in most cases, and suggesting that it is a disservice to the country for them to ignore biases. And certainly ignore her opinions: upholding discrimination against a white, learning disabled firefighter; declaring not … More

Walter Olson recently expressed some discontent over the hullabaloo raised by his conservative allies concerning the now infamous Sotomayor “where policy is made” YouTube video. He states: Some conservatives keep publicizing a YouTube clip where she confides to a panel-discussion audience that appeals courts are “where policy is made.” Sorry, but that’s a standard observation among legal commentators these days—by no means limited to liberals—and, by my subjective measure, she actually comes off pretty well on that tape. While it is certainly true that conservatives have often observed (and lamented) … More