Tag Archives: SCOTUS

Ted Olson Seeks To Overturn Restrictions On Political Speech By Corporations

Mostly-conservative lawyer kingpin Ted Olson, one half of the duo working to bring a pro-marriage equality case before the Supreme Court, returned to his roots yesterday, appearing before SCOTUS (on Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s first day on the bench) to argue that laws restricting corporations from making political speech be swept away. Olson’s client, a non-profit called Citizens United, has made …

Read More »

80’s Flashback

2 Live Crew, Me So Horny, 1989. Using the music of Mass Production’s 1979 hit Firecracker and a vocal sample from Full Metal Jacket, this track took the Miami-based rappers to the top of the charts, to jail, and eventually, to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that freedom of speech protected the group from charges of obscenity. The album …

Read More »

Wise Latina Confirmed

Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice today in a partisan vote of 68-31. All Democrats approved, as well as nine Republicans. Sen. Ted Kennedy was too ill to be in the chamber. The GOP’s ugly smear campaign against Sotomayor may have repercussions in the next election. From the moment Mr. Obama chose her in May, many …

Read More »

Sotomayor Moves Forward, 13-6

As expected, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was the lone GOP vote for Sonia Sotomayor today, joining a dozen Judiciary Committee Democrats in forwarding her nomination to the full Senate for approval. Two of the veteran GOP senators who voted against her, Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) and Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), have never before opposed a Supreme Court nominee. The committee’s …

Read More »

BAM! Rachel Maddow Slams Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan on why 108 of 110 SCOTUS justices have been white: Pat Buchanan: “White men were 100% of the people that wrote the Constitution, 100% of the people that signed the Declaration of Independence, 100% of the people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, probably close to 100% of the people who died at Normandy. This has been a …

Read More »

Sotomayor Grilled On Same-Sex Marriage

Sonia Sotomayor says she will look at same-sex marriage “with a completely open mind” and seemed to take offense at any implication that she’s already decided on the issue. NOTE: Argh. I’m trying to transcribe Sotomayor’s comments and this C-SPAN player is the pits. This post replaces a previous post that went kerfluey with these C-SPAN players. Let’s try again. …

Read More »

Sotomayor Asked About Marriage

In the third day of her confirmation hearings, Sonia Sotomayor was finally asked about same-sex marriage. But the SCOTUS nominee said she couldn’t answer. The subject was raised indirectly by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). Grassley did not mention same-sex marriage directly, but that was the implication when he asked Sonia Sotomayor about a court ruling that said Minnesota could …

Read More »

GOP Senator Does Ricky Ricardo Impression To Sonia Sotomayor

SRSLY. Maybe Sen. Coburn thinks Lucy was married to a Puerto Rican?

Read More »

Sotomayor’s A Terrorist!

Oh, brother. Check out this ad from some nutjob outfit called “The Committee For Justice.” Think Progress responds: “The claim that Sotomayor led a terrorist organization apparently refers to her service on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, a mainstream civil rights organization. It seems that, in the right-wing mind, a group that protects Latinos …

Read More »

Sotomayor: Roe Is Settled Law

The wingnuts are gonna go ballistic. Wheee!! UPDATE: “Jane Roe” herself was arrested at yesterday’s hearing. Norma McCorvey, 61, of Texas, better known as “Jane Roe,” began screaming that Sotomayor was “wrong” about abortion during the opening statement of the newest member of the Senate, Al Franken, D-Minn. McCorvey’s suit led to the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. …

Read More »

Sotomayor: Day Two

Things are just getting started. Today should be a lot more interesting. UPDATE: Hearing is concluded, live feed ended.

Read More »

It Was A Gay-Free Day For Sotomayor

Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats brought up LGBT rights or same-sex marriage during the first day of Sonia Sotomayor’s SCOTUS confirmation hearings. Good thing? Bad thing? The hearings continue tomorrow and Wednesday, so there’s plenty of time left. Below is Sotomayor’s statement at the conclusion of today’s session.

Read More »

Anti-Abortionist Disrupts Sotomayor Confirmation Hearing

UPDATE: And again, during Sen. Al Franken’s comments.

Read More »

Live: Sotomayor Confirmation Hearing

UPDATE: The hearing has concluded for today.

Read More »

SCOTUS Reverses Nominee Sonia Sotomayor On Affirmative Action

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a decision made by SCOTUS-nominee Sonia Sotomayor when she was an appeals judge, ruling that white firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut had been discriminated against when they were passed over for promotions in favor of less qualified black firefighters. The case is expected to have broad impact on affirmative action cases nationwide. In the …

Read More »

Praying For Failure: Fundie Anoints Sotomayor Hearing Room With Oil

On Monday leading evangelical Rev. Rob Schenck crept into the U.S. Senate’s darkened Hart Building to “anoint with oil” the door of the room where the SCOTUS confirmation hearing for Sonia Sotomayor is expected to take place, in order that Congress be struck by the holy spirit and refuse to confirm her. As I prayed, I touched the doors in …

Read More »

BREAKING: SCOTUS Rejects Challenge To Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The U.S. Supreme Court has just refused to hear a challenge to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a challenge to the Pentagon policy forbidding gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, granting an Obama administration request to maintain the Clinton-era “don’t ask, don’t tell” directive. The court said it will not hear …

Read More »

Wingnuts Call SCOTUS Nominee Sonia Sotomayor “Racist” & “Dumb”

Right-wingers nationwide are calling SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor every name in the book.

Read More »

SCOTUS Nominee Sotomayor Speaks

SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor speaks about her roots and calls her mother her inspiration.

Read More »

Obama Taps Latina For SCOTUS

At 10am today President Obama will announce his nomination of federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sotomayor is a Bronx-born Puerto Rican. If confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, Judge Sotomayor, 54, would replace Justice David H. Souter to become the second woman on the court and only the third female justice in the history of …

Read More »