Scottsdale, AZ.
Personal Note. Grading final exams and then driving to Arizona monopolized my time the past 2 weeks. Yep, grading 3 courses, each with a 4-hour examination, over 200 of them in all. That followed by packing research materials to be shipped here and then driving (with our 3 cats!!) across the country to this most glorious of places. (Along with Upstate New York, one of my favorite spots on the planet. The desert, cactus, other Southwest flora and fauna, mountains, lots and lots of blue skies and bright sun, high 90's to low 100's, bone dry, great restaurants, fabulous ethnic food, super food and other shopping, plenty of New Yorkers.... Hard to beat!)
Meantime, Obama's pick of Judge Sonia Sotomayor has kept me busy reading her opinions, following the commentary on TV, radio, and the papers, doing some radio and TV myself (via cell phone), and preparing to report on this blog what my examination of her record reveals. An earlier post on the New York Court Watcher took a look at why she was likely on the President's short list, and also raised some possible drawbacks to her then-potential nomination. (See Supreme Court: Souter's Replacement--A Short List, May 8, 2009.) Now that she has been nominated, a much closer look is in order.
Preliminarily, what I'm finding is a bit different than what is being said and written elsewhere. Most liberal Democratic partisans and their ilk in the press, on the airwaves, and elsewhere have obviously been drinking the Kool-Aid. Sotomayor apparently could not be better. And at the other end of the political spectrum, conservative Republican partisans and their ilk in the press, on the air, and elsewhere could not be more appalled. Sotomayor is clearly an unbridled liberal activist and maybe even a racist.
As might well be expected, both views are pretty far from the truth. Both are undoubtedly based on considerations other than her actual record. Indeed, one can be pretty sure that such views derive from ignorance or disregard of that record.
Sooooo, in the next few posts on New York Court Watcher we'll take a look at her record. And we'll do so uninfluenced by the Kool-Aid and unblinded by the partisan hysteria. We'll just put the cards on the table.
