A Rock and a Hard Place
By Prometheus on May 27, 2009 | In Political Philosophy | 93 feedbacks »
Unless you've been under the infamous rock for the past few days, I'm sure you've noticed that one Barack Obama has selected his nominee for the Supreme Court. Her name is Sonia Sotomayor. A good friend of mine asked me the other day what I thought of the pick...but unfortunately, being in the position I was in, I couldn't really articulate my two cents on the matter. But, by golly, I can now. It's actually very simple.
"I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God." - Supreme Court Oath of Office
"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." – Judge Sonia Sotomayor
And there you have it. Using Sotomayor's own language, she should be disqualified from being a nominee for the Supreme Court of the U.S. The moment she took the oath of office, she would be lying, because she obviously believes that justice should not be blind, but should be based on emotion and personal backgrounds. Her selection shouldn't surprise anyone at all. I mean look at who chose her...
Obama, again in his own words, made it perfectly clear that either he has no clue what the responsibility is of a Supreme Court Justice, or he just doesn't care about said role:
"I view that quality of empathy...as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes."
Excuse me, Mr. President, but empathy has no place whatsoever in a Judge ruling on a case...especially one before the Supreme Court. A Justice's responsibility is to interpret the laws that Congress passes, based on the Constitution. They are not to make rulings based on their emotions, someone's gender, religious view, skin color, or income.
Nevertheless, here we are, with a latina now up for the Supreme Court. The political maneuvering has already taken place and the lines in the sand have been drawn. Conservatives have been given the rule book to the game and, sadly, those rules were handed out by some who call themselves Republicans.
Mark McKinnon was once a strategist for George Bush and John McCain. He recently posted some comments indicating that basically stated if Republicans were smart, they would not challenge Sotomayor at all...and we should also worship Colin Powell. His reasoning here is that if Republicans/Conservatives push too hard against Sotomayor or Powell, its going to alienate voters and seal the doom of the party.
Well color me doomed, but I think McKinnon is full of crap. Knowing what I know, I'm not surprised that he has this defeatist attitude. I'm good friends with someone that also worked on Bush's communications team at one point, and I can safely say that all of the dropped balls that oozed out of the Bush White House can be attributed to people like McKinnon.
Maybe McKinnon had his eyes shut for the past few years, but George Bush had the most ethnically diverse administration in U.S. history. He, along with John McCain, tried to pass amnesty for illegal immigrants. My point here is this...so called Republicans have been abandoning their core principles for several years now in an effort to kowtow to certain groups in this country, thus winning all important votes. Well if the most moderate Republican in the country, who supported amnesty, got his clock cleaned by drawing -25% of the Hispanic vote, what exactly can be gained by utilizing McKinnon's tactics?
To be honest, if the certain people in this country fall for the Liberal/Media generated line that Conservatives are bigots/racists, then I really don't want those voters anyway. Only a true idiot, would believe questioning Sotomayor's judicial standing equated to an attack on her gender or race. If that puts Conservatives in the minority election after election, then so be it. I'm not one to scuttle my morals and values to buy a vote. You'll be able to count the true number of Conservatives in D.C. when her confirmation vote comes to the floor of the Senate. Then we'll see.
Just think about this...
When was the last time Liberals were tasked with reining in any type of criticism or rebuke on the grounds that they may alienate someone or some group? For some reason, its always the Conservatives that have to tiptoe around the tulips.
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