tagged w/ Sotomayor
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How did Judge Sotomayor earn $3,773,824 since 1988 + receive $381,775 in loans = $4,155,599 + her 1976-1987 earnings, yet disclose assets worth only $543,903 in her answers to the Questionnaire of the Senate Judiciary Committee?
The Senate Judiciary Committee required Justice Nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor to “Provide a complete, current financial net worth statement which itemizes in detail all assets [and] all liabilities”.1 Judge Sotomayor was also under an independent duty under the Ethics in Government Act to file “full and complete” annual financial disclosure reports.2 Her discharge of such obligations or failure to do so reflects her respect or lack thereof for the law applicable to her and thus, the law that she applies to others and the quality of justice that she dispenses to them. Hence, examining her handling of such obligations is warranted by the need to ascertain her personal and judicial integrity.
The following table and its endnotes show that Judge Sotomayor failed to disclose the whereabouts of her earnings, as summarized in the title above. Money does not simply disappear.3 It is either spent, donated, or saved.4 To some extent, how a person spends money can be determined from her appearance and public conduct. How she saves it, e.g., by investing it, requires mostly disclosure or subpoenas5. Failure to disclose financial information when under a duty to do so is a violation of the law. Nondisclosure by a bankruptcy petitioner constitutes concealment of assets and perjury. It is a crime punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $500,000.How did Judge Sotomayor earn $3,773,824 since 1988 + receive $381,775 in loans =... more
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Headline: “Supreme Court rules for white firefighters in bias case”
“A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that the city of New Haven, Conn., discriminated against white firefighters, repudiating a key decision by court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.”
The Supreme Court Decision (read it here) is a victory for the White firefighters, and a resounding defeat for the Liberals whose blind support of Affirmative Action has led them to apply race-based decisions to hiring and promotions.
But I’d like to break open the story just a bit, and provide additional support to the firefighters who passed their exams, met the requirements for promotion, but were discriminated against.
The article states that the reason why the firefighters were not promoted was because "the city rejected the test results because too many white and not enough minorities would be promoted," as mentioned by Justice Kennedy. "Without some other justification, this express, race-based decision-making violates Title VII's command that employers cannot take adverse employment actions because of an individual's race."
...I contend that this explanation does not hold water. The exam result was not an aberration: it is entirely consistent with Connecticut standardized test results in public schools.
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On the Connecticut Master Test, 4th Generation for Grade 8: 2008, only 9.4% of Whites scored at or below “basic”. 16.8% scored Proficient, and 73.8% scored “at Goal” or “Advanced”. By comparison, 42.4% of Blacks scored below “proficient”, 29.3% scored proficient, and 28.3% scored “at Goal” or “Advanced”.
It is logical to assume that only the best and brightest of firemen are expected to advance to become Chiefs. Since how they perform their duties, how well they understand the laws, rules, protocols, and procedures will directly impact the safety of their crews and the public they serve, there are lives on the line. So it is also logical to assume that a great deal of the material they must master is not just firefighting methods that can be learned on the job, but also book learning that must be mastered through study. It is therefore not only conceivable, but quite logical, that a firefighter who is exceptional at a fire may not have “the right stuff” to be a chief. The individuals one would want to become a fire chief would belong to the groups that, when students, would have met or excelled at the goal scores.
The Connecticut state scores indicate that Whites excel academically at a rate greater than twice that of Blacks. If you combine “Proficient” with the “Goal and Advanced” categories, the gap narrows slightly, but still only 57.6% of Blacks scored Proficient and above combined, compared to 90.6% of Whites. (80.7% of Hispanics scored Proficient and above combined)
So, New Haven developed a written test to determine the extent of mastery of these subjects, but then balked at the results of the tests. According to the article: “The African American pass rate on the written exam was roughly half that of white applicants. …None of the top 19 scorers in the competition for captain's and lieutenant's positions were African American.”
Why is that a surprise? The test results for African Americans on the firefighter’s exam were wholly consistent with the scores of African Americans on state educational standardized tests.
...Headline: “Supreme Court rules for white firefighters in bias case”... more
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Radio host Rush Limbaugh may have jumped into it with both feet Wednesday when he attempted to get political mileage out of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s acknowledgment that she belongs to an organization for “influential women who are key decision makers.”
The group calls itself Belizean Grove in mockery of “the Bohemian Grove, a 130-year-old, elite old boys’ network” and states that its aim is to “help women pursue more significant dreams, ambitions, purposes, transcendence, and spiritual fulfillment, while also opening up more leadership opportunities.”
“Would [liberals] have forgiven the judge’s involvement in an old-boys’ club?” Limbaugh fulminated. “Or would they have erupted in a full flow and five-alarm rage? It’s safe to say any conservative in this situation would find their nomination dead in the water, clubbed like a baby seal, no doubt about it.”
“I think I’m going to send Sotomayor and her club a bunch of vacuum cleaners to help them clean up after their meetings,” Limbaugh sneered.
Mark Silva, blogging at The Swamp, was quick to catch the sexist and racist implications in Limbaugh’s remark. “Leave it to Rush Limbaugh, the golden voice of radio, to liken the president’s nominee for the Supreme Court and her professional friends to a bunch of housemaids,” he commented.Radio host Rush Limbaugh may have jumped into it with both feet Wednesday when he... more
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Former President George H.W. Bush stood up for his former judicial nominee Sonia Sotomayor Friday, telling CNN Anchor Robin Meade that GOP critics who called President Obama's Supreme Court pick a racist were off-base, and unfair.
"I don't know her that well but I think she's had a distinguished record on the bench and she should be entitled to fair hearings. Not – [it's] like the senator John Cornyn said it," he told CNN. "He may vote for it, he may not. But he's been backing away from these…backing off from those radical statements to describe her, to attribute things to her that may or may not be true.
"And she was called by somebody a racist once. That's not right. I mean that's not fair. It doesn't help the process. You're out there name-calling. So let them decide who they want to vote for and get on with it."
High-profile Republican voices like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh had both accused the judge of racism for her past comment that a "wise Latina" might make more informed judicial decisions than a white male. Gingrich later backed away from that assessment.
Cornyn had urged Republicans to avoid labeling Sotomayor a racist, calling that brand of criticism unhelpful to the process.Former President George H.W. Bush stood up for his former judicial nominee Sonia... more
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Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor broke her ankle Monday morning in an airport stumble on her way to Washington to meet with senators who will vote on her confirmation.
The federal judge, who has been keeping up a busy schedule of appointments on Capitol Hill, tripped at New York's LaGuardia Airport before boarding a flight to Washington and sustained a small fracture to her right ankle, the White House said.Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor broke her ankle Monday morning in an airport... more
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Yet another whack job!
A Manhattan man who threatened to kill U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and said he wanted to kill President Barack Obama has been arraigned on charges of making a terroristic threat.
A criminal complaint says 48-year-old John Zaubler called 911 Saturday and said he was going to kill Sotomayor by "blowing her up" because he did not want his girlfriend to go to federal prison.
The complaint also says he wanted to kill Obama by "blowing him up."
Zaubler did not enter a plea in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Judge James Gibbons ordered Zaubler held without bail and ordered a psychiatric examination. He scheduled a hearing for July 6.Yet another whack job!
A Manhattan man who threatened to kill U.S. Supreme... more
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The White House dispatched first lady Michelle Obama to defend Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday, part of a broad offensive to humanize the judge that came as former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich backed off his harsh criticism of her as a racist.
Mrs. Obama told students at a high school graduation that Sotomayor is "more than ready" to be a justice and compared the judge's life story of humble beginnings and high achievement to the paths taken by her husband and herself.
Sotomayor, who grew up in a New York City housing project and went on to Princeton and Yale universities, "says she still looks over her shoulder and wonders if she measures up," Mrs. Obama said at Howard University, chiming in on Sotomayor's behalf as her husband began a Mideast trip.
It was a subtle but pointed counter to Republicans who have cited Sotomayor's speeches and writings about how her background affects her work as a judge to question whether she would let her personal biases interfere with her judicial decisions.
Hours earlier, Gingrich told supporters in a letter that he shouldn't have called Sotomayor a racist, adding that the word had been "perhaps too strong and direct." But he said the 2001 speech that prompted his remark, in which Sotomayor said she hoped the rulings of a "wise Latina" would be better than those of a white male without similar experiences, was still unacceptable.
Gingrich conceded that Sotomayor's rulings have "shown more caution and moderation" than her speeches and writings, but he said the 2001 comments "reveal a betrayal of a fundamental principle of the American system — that everyone is equal before the law."The White House dispatched first lady Michelle Obama to defend Supreme Court nominee... more
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Urgent issues call for equally urgent harmonies, and they are provided by politicians, pundits, and gorillas alike in this chapter of news opera.
mp3 available--
http://amiestreet.com/music/auto-tune...Urgent issues call for equally urgent harmonies, and they are provided by politicians,... more
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Appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor is getting her first chance to make an impression on senators who will vote on her nomination to the Supreme Court, with a marathon set of Capitol Hill meet-and-greets that kicks off what could be a long debate.
Sotomayor's schedule Tuesday is packed with roughly half-hour meetings — known as "courtesy calls" — that are as important for the courtly tone they set for the debate as they are for offering a few moments of candid conversation with the nominee.
Republican senators have already begun to question remarks Sotomayor has made in the past about how her life experiences influence her judicial decisions. In turn, Democrats have defended her as a fair and unbiased judge, and all sides say they are eager to talk to her privately and question her in the public hearings to come.
Sotomayor is set to meet with 10 senators during her first day on Capitol Hill, retreating to Vice President Joe Biden's office in between sessions to huddle with the White House team, heavy with confirmation battle veterans, that's guiding her nomination. Prominent on Sotomayor's list of visits are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and their seconds-in-command, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
She'll also begin her rounds with the Judiciary Committee members who will hold the high-profile hearings on her confirmation, starting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman, and Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the panel's senior Republican, as well as Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah.Appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor is getting her first chance to make an impression... more
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Here is all you really need to know about the opposition to Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court: One of its leaders is Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich used to run on family values all the time, maybe because he was under the impression that the more families you have - he is working on his third - the more of an expert you are on the subject.
You may also remember that Gingrich was once forced to admit to having an extramarital affair, about the time the second Mrs. Gingrich was coming out of the game and No. 3 was warming up in the bullpen. It turns out this happened while he was leading the charge against Bill Clinton on Monica Lewinsky.
So Gingrich isn't just a scrub, he's a frisky one at that. Only now he thinks he has somehow earned the right, after a sketchy life like his, to assess the virtues of Sotomayor, a brilliant judge from the Bronx whose life is a hymn to this country's possibilities - and its greatness.
Gingrich wants to make this all about race with Judge Sotomayor, the same as radio idiots like Rush Limbaugh. This is all because Sotomayor once suggested that as a Latina woman she might be able to make better judgments than white males.
As you can imagine, this sent the league of frightened old white guys into a tailspin.
These same people somehow managed to hold it together when Justice Samuel Alito, an Italian-American, said he considers the discrimination his family faced when he gets a case about discrimination.
Read more: "Gingrich and rest of far right are scared of Sotomayor - and who can blame them?" - http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/06/01/2009-06-01_no_shock_far_right_is_scared_of_sotomayor.html#ixzz0HAyrZvTf&AHere is all you really need to know about the opposition to Judge Sonia... more
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WASHINGTON - The selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court has opened a new battle in the fight over affirmative action and other race-conscious remedies for patterns of inequality, with each side invoking the election of the first black president in support of its cause.
Judge Sotomayor, whose parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico, has championed the importance of considering race and ethnicity in admissions, hiring and even judicial selection at almost every stage of her career — as a student activist at Princeton and at Yale Law School, as a board member of left-leaning Hispanic advocacy groups and as a federal judge arguing for diversity on the bench.
Now conservatives say her strong identification with such race-based approaches to the law is perhaps the strongest argument against her confirmation, contending that her views put her outside an evolving consensus that such race-conscious public policy is growing obsolete.
“The American ideal is that justice should be colorblind,” said Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican on the Judiciary Committee. “As we see people like Barack Obama achieve the highest office in the land and Judge Sotomayor’s own nomination to the highest court, I think it is harder and harder to see the justifications for race-conscious decisions across the board.”
Mr. Cornyn added, “This is a hot-button issue and one that needs to be confronted head on.”WASHINGTON - The selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court has opened a... more
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The following are, in a nutshell, the major rulings by 2nd Circuit Court Judge Sonya Sotomayor.
I'm not a judge, but you can be!!
Let me know what you think of the following decisions!
(requires PDF...and Twitter!! haha)The following are, in a nutshell, the major rulings by 2nd Circuit Court Judge Sonya... more
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Obama defended his nominee, saying her message was on target even if her exact wording was not.
"I think that when she's appearing before the Senate committee, in her confirmation process, I think all this nonsense that is being spewed out will be revealed for what it is," Obama said
What do you think? Will the accusations from the right concerning racism be cleared up by the confirmation hearings? Or will they serve to just stoke the flames of media talking points?Obama defended his nominee, saying her message was on target even if her exact wording... more
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Conor Knighton looks at the roots of dumb cat videos in his weekly roundup of the crazy world of 24-hour media madness. This week he also looks at an exploding egg, Paula Deen and a peeing goat, Twitter's TV show, Diddy's Twitter accomplishment, boxing cats, the Keyboard Cat, Judge Judy, Jon and Kate plus lame word play, and what Fox News' election touch screen is up to now.
infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Sarah Haskins, Ben Hoffman, and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at http://current.com/infomania/ or on Current TV. And make sure to check out our facebook profile for special features at http://infomaniafacebook.com.Conor Knighton looks at the roots of dumb cat videos in his weekly roundup of the... more
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President Barack Obama defended his Supreme Court pick and painted an upbeat vision of the economy Wednesday as he addressed major donors to the Democratic Party in Beverly Hills.President Barack Obama defended his Supreme Court pick and painted an upbeat vision of... more
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One of the more provocative critiques to come from conservatives concerning the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has been the charge that her nomination is racial politics at its most cynical. But in the past, Republicans were eager to play up the diversity of their own nominees.
She is "an affirmative action pick," declared Pat Buchanan on MSNBC's Hardball. "Clearly the president was down to four choices, all of them woman, and he picked the Hispanic." Earlier in the day, Rush Limbaugh ramped up the rhetoric even further, proclaiming Sotomayor "a reverse racist" who was appointed by "the greatest living example of a reverse racist" -- Obama.One of the more provocative critiques to come from conservatives concerning the... more
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Let the ad wars begin. The progressive-leaning Coalition for Constitutional Values is up with a new ad on Wednesday, "introducing" Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor "to the American public."
The spot, titled "Justice," uses clips of President Obama describing his ideal choice for the bench, spliced with images of Sotomayor and captions of her accomplishments, including:
* Princeton Univ. & Yale Law. * First Appointed by George H.W. Bush in 1991. * U.S. Court of Appeals, 11 Years. * Lost her father at age 9. * Raised in public housing by a working mom, who taught her the power of education. * Tough Prosecutor. * Distinguished Judge. * Practical Understanding of the Law.
Heavy on biography, the ad is geared towards what, at this point, is the most significant task in the confirmation battle: framing the debate. The ad will be airing on national network news and cable, where primarily inside-the-beltway and media types will see it.
A source for the Coalition for Constitutional Values -- a public interest group that is co-chaired by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Alliance for Justice and People for the American Way -- says that the group is putting "six figures" behind the ad.
"This spot introduces the American people to Judge Sonia Sotomayor," said Wade Henderson, co-chair of the Coalition for Constitutional Values and president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. "Every aspect of American life is affected by our justice system. It's important that they understand her fair-minded approach to the law which is grounded both in her eminent legal qualifications and her life experiences."Let the ad wars begin. The progressive-leaning Coalition for Constitutional Values is... more
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President Obama nominated federal judge Sonia Sotomayor of New York for the Supreme Court. If selected, she will become the first Latina and the third woman on the nation's highest court.President Obama nominated federal judge Sonia Sotomayor of New York for the Supreme... more
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