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Live-ish Blogging: Soto Hearings, Day 4, Summation
[caption id="attachment_9663" align="alignright" width="336" caption="I am Frank Ricci. In no way do I disrespect Sotomayor, but I just want everyone to know she's a racist. Go USA!"]
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Just got back from having a liver transplant. This Wise Latina Drinking Game is now a game of diminishing returns and failing organs. I had no idea when we committed to it that the Republicans would seize onto it like a pitbull. But here we are, 4 days later, and we are dropping like flies. Kate Moss is still unresponsive.
The 2nd round of questions from the Committee members and public testimony has just completed for the evening. It has been confirmed that at least 1 Republican Senator (Lindsey Graham of S. Carolina) will likely vote in favor of confirmation. Additionally, Chairman Leahy predicts Sotomayor will be confirmed by the time Congress leaves for their August recess (Aug 7). So, thanks for the 22 hours of really uninteresting theater. Where is the "pube on coke" moment?
Arizona Republican Jon Kyl is leading us off today and launches right into the firefighter Ricci case (yet again). In the audience today are the Ricci plaintiffs, and they are expected to testify. His goal—paint Sotomayor as a racial quotas gal while at the same time emphasizing her ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court. I was reading on the New York Times blog one commenters point: “What is the point of these hearings anymore? The candidate can avoid virtually any question by claiming that it may one day come before him/her in court. It’s really just a forum for Senators to posture in front of a lot of cameras.” I agree. And I am going to limit the commentary to the most interesting points of their 2nd round of posturing. Besides, the committee opens up to public testimony, which promises more excitement and direct statements.
Cali Democrat Diane Feinstein corrects the record and that the Ricci decision was 5-4 (read between the lines: 5 right of center votes + 4 left of center votes=current Supreme Court).
Lindsay Graham paraphrased: You confuse and bug the hell out of me, girlfriend. But I still will vote for you. Do you have a legal cookbook you use to reach your decisions?
Texas Republican John Cornyn—gay marriage comes up. She answers well by saying that presuming she supports gay marriage presumes that she has prejudged a case before it's even before the court. When pressed later by Grassley, she declined to comment on the content of the challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act making its way through the courts now.
Specter wants Supreme Court proceedings taped live. So does Sotomayor.
Then there is some pressure to get Sotomayor to commit to not letting foreign law influence her decisions. She complies. Excuse me, but the Magna Carta was foreign law, no?
The committee then opens it up to testimony. Lots of blow jobs and piss parades. Here are the highlights:
We have some anti-choice nutball who testifies that while on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund he wrote many amicus briefs in favor of abortion and stated that confirming Sotomayor would lead to "abortion on demand." Um, good! It might mean then that poor women who cannot afford abortions may actually have a choice now. What tragedy!
The American Bar Association gave Sonia Sotomayor a rating of "well-qualified," which is their highest rating and which they gave unanimously. They also gave the same ratings to Alito (Bush appointee) and Roberts (Bush appointee).
NYC Mayor Bloomberg testified in favor of her confirmation stating her confirmation is worthy of all Democratic, Republican and Independent Senators because, "I should know. I have been all three."
In the "Holy shit, you've got balls" department: Linda Chavez, failed Bush nominee for the Department of Labor for her naughty activities around housing illegal immigrants as housekeepers, gave a harsh testimony against Sotomayor, calling Sonia, "drunk on identity politics."
Confirmation fun trivia question: Which Bill Clinton nemesis supports the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor? Answer: Kenneth Starr.
Confirmation fun fact: 2 people on the current Supreme Court are from NY: Ginsburg=Brooklyn, Scalia=Queens. Sotomayor, who hails from the Bronx, would be the 3rd.
[/caption]Just got back from having a liver transplant. This Wise Latina Drinking Game is now a game of diminishing returns and failing organs. I had no idea when we committed to it that the Republicans would seize onto it like a pitbull. But here we are, 4 days later, and we are dropping like flies. Kate Moss is still unresponsive.
The 2nd round of questions from the Committee members and public testimony has just completed for the evening. It has been confirmed that at least 1 Republican Senator (Lindsey Graham of S. Carolina) will likely vote in favor of confirmation. Additionally, Chairman Leahy predicts Sotomayor will be confirmed by the time Congress leaves for their August recess (Aug 7). So, thanks for the 22 hours of really uninteresting theater. Where is the "pube on coke" moment?
Arizona Republican Jon Kyl is leading us off today and launches right into the firefighter Ricci case (yet again). In the audience today are the Ricci plaintiffs, and they are expected to testify. His goal—paint Sotomayor as a racial quotas gal while at the same time emphasizing her ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court. I was reading on the New York Times blog one commenters point: “What is the point of these hearings anymore? The candidate can avoid virtually any question by claiming that it may one day come before him/her in court. It’s really just a forum for Senators to posture in front of a lot of cameras.” I agree. And I am going to limit the commentary to the most interesting points of their 2nd round of posturing. Besides, the committee opens up to public testimony, which promises more excitement and direct statements.
Cali Democrat Diane Feinstein corrects the record and that the Ricci decision was 5-4 (read between the lines: 5 right of center votes + 4 left of center votes=current Supreme Court).
Lindsay Graham paraphrased: You confuse and bug the hell out of me, girlfriend. But I still will vote for you. Do you have a legal cookbook you use to reach your decisions?
Texas Republican John Cornyn—gay marriage comes up. She answers well by saying that presuming she supports gay marriage presumes that she has prejudged a case before it's even before the court. When pressed later by Grassley, she declined to comment on the content of the challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act making its way through the courts now.
Specter wants Supreme Court proceedings taped live. So does Sotomayor.
Then there is some pressure to get Sotomayor to commit to not letting foreign law influence her decisions. She complies. Excuse me, but the Magna Carta was foreign law, no?
The committee then opens it up to testimony. Lots of blow jobs and piss parades. Here are the highlights:
We have some anti-choice nutball who testifies that while on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund he wrote many amicus briefs in favor of abortion and stated that confirming Sotomayor would lead to "abortion on demand." Um, good! It might mean then that poor women who cannot afford abortions may actually have a choice now. What tragedy!
The American Bar Association gave Sonia Sotomayor a rating of "well-qualified," which is their highest rating and which they gave unanimously. They also gave the same ratings to Alito (Bush appointee) and Roberts (Bush appointee).
NYC Mayor Bloomberg testified in favor of her confirmation stating her confirmation is worthy of all Democratic, Republican and Independent Senators because, "I should know. I have been all three."
In the "Holy shit, you've got balls" department: Linda Chavez, failed Bush nominee for the Department of Labor for her naughty activities around housing illegal immigrants as housekeepers, gave a harsh testimony against Sotomayor, calling Sonia, "drunk on identity politics."
Confirmation fun trivia question: Which Bill Clinton nemesis supports the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor? Answer: Kenneth Starr.
Confirmation fun fact: 2 people on the current Supreme Court are from NY: Ginsburg=Brooklyn, Scalia=Queens. Sotomayor, who hails from the Bronx, would be the 3rd.
