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Supreme Court nominee

Discussion in 'Free Speech Alley' started by SabanFan, May 27, 2009.

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PURPLE TIGER HOPE is not a strategy!

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gumborue said: ↑

-ailito was in love with his immigrant background and said it made him a better judge---nominated, confirmed.
-thomas was just a little sexist---nominated, confirmed.
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Both were completely dragged through the mud and were personally attacked by the Democrats. Should the Republicans do the same thing to Sotomayor? I think the Republicans will have more class than the Democrats did and most will challenge her on issues instead of the personal attacks Alito and Thomas endured.

PURPLE TIGER, Jun 2, 2009

#111
LSUMASTERMIND Founding Member

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Just wanted to show you this Purple and get your opinion on this ruiling of Sotomayor dissent

Thomas Pappas, had worked in the New York City Police Department since January, 1982, primarily in the Management Information Systems Division. In August 1999, he was fired by then commissioner Howard Safir after it was discovered that he had mailed more than 200 pieces of racially insensitive and anti-Semitic material from his home to various political groups who had been soliciting him for donations. Among the more than 200 or so pieces of literature Pappas had sent out were pamphlets from the National Association for the Advancement of White People.

A member and chairman of the Populist Party of the Town of North Hempstead, whose platform included repealing the federal income tax and abolishing the IRS, Pappas sued Safir and New York City's Mayor Rudy Giuliani on grounds that they had violated his First Amendment rights. In October 2000, U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled that the NYPD had operated within the rule of law.

The case was appealed and in 2002 it found its way to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The three-judge panel, which included Sotomayor, considered two main components of the case: Whether Pappas's "speech" was of public concern and whether it had "interfered with" the NYPD's activities. Two of the three judges upheld the district court decision that it didn't matter that Pappas had sent these mailings anonymously from his private home. "Although Pappas tried to conceal his identity as speaker," they ruled, "he took the risk that the effort would fail."

While finding the speech "offensive, hateful and insulting," Sotomayor dissented. Her basis was the precedent established by Rankin v. McPherson, in which the Supreme Court held that a public employee in Texas who cheered the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in a conversation with a fellow worker had not interfered with the office's operations, because her job did not require public contact. But Sotomayor also did not shy away from the constitutional implications of the Pappas case.
"I of course do not dispute the majority's premise that a public employee's free speech interest is often subordinated to the effective functioning of a government employer," Sotomayor's dissent read. "I also agree that it is appropriate to consider the agency's mission in relation to the nature of the speech, and I appreciate the enormous importance of race relations to the operation of the NYPD. These facts alone, however, do not support the constitutionality of the NYPD's termination of Pappas. The well-established case law of the Supreme Court and this Court requires a more searching inquiry."

Seven years later, that opinion and those words in particular have struck observers as uniquely important aspects of Sotomayor's lengthy record. The political implications are obvious: A Latina judge accused of being a "reverse-racist" took the side of the white supremacist police officer at a time when the NYPD was widely resented and distrusted by New York's minority communities

It showed that she is not knee jerk when it comes to dealing with racial issues," said Chris Dunn, an attorney for the New York Civil Liberties Union who argued the defense. "That was the case in which she took the side of a person obviously engaging in racist conduct and recognized the important First Amendment interest that was represented. She respected that interest and stuck to it."
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LSUMASTERMIND, Jun 3, 2009

#112
red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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PURPLE TIGER said: ↑

Both were completely dragged through the mud and were personally attacked by the Democrats. Should the Republicans do the same thing to Sotomayor? I think the Republicans will have more class than the Democrats did and most will challenge her on issues instead of the personal attacks Alito and Thomas endured.
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What personal attacks?

Alito and Roberts were challenged on their judicial record. So far, Sotomayor has been challenged on a comment made outside the courtroom. Freedom of Speech is the law in this country.

Republicans challenged Clinton's appointment of Ginsberg, too. This has gone on ever since Robert Bork in the Reagan administration.

Her judicial decisions are what matters.

red55, Jun 3, 2009

#113
SabanFan The voice of reason

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Being raised a white man, I think that my posts are sometimes better than Mastermind's.

SabanFan, Jun 3, 2009

#114
LSUMASTERMIND Founding Member

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SabanFan said: ↑

Being raised a white man, I think that my posts are sometimes better than Mastermind's.
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:rofl:So even though Im black, if I was raised as a white man, my post would be better than what they are.
I understand what you are saying, but I think you dont understand what you're saying.

LSUMASTERMIND, Jun 3, 2009

#115
gumborue Throwin Ched

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PURPLE TIGER said: ↑

Both were completely dragged through the mud and were personally attacked by the Democrats. Should the Republicans do the same thing to Sotomayor? I think the Republicans will have more class than the Democrats did and most will challenge her on issues instead of the personal attacks Alito and Thomas endured.
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i dont remember personal attacks by Senator Dems on Alito, refresh my memory. the ones on thomas were hard to avoid considering the creepy things he was accused of.

if the Republicans have "class" it will be for political reasons, not because they are classy. thank god paul broun is not a senator.

gumborue, Jun 3, 2009

#116
SabanFan The voice of reason

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LSUMASTERMIND said: ↑

:rofl:So even though Im black, if I was raised as a white man, my post would be better than what they are.
I understand what you are saying, but I think you dont understand what you're saying.
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My point was that it's understandable how Sotomayor's remark could be perceived as racist.

Personally, I don't have a problem with her nomination. Obama could have stuck it to the right a lot more than he did there.

SabanFan, Jun 3, 2009

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gumborue Throwin Ched

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SabanFan said: ↑

My point was that it's understandable how Sotomayor's remark could be perceived as racist.

Personally, I don't have a problem with her nomination. Obama could have stuck it to the right a lot more than he did there.
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you must have gotten a good nights sleep.

gumborue, Jun 3, 2009

#118
LSUMASTERMIND Founding Member

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SabanFan said: ↑

My point was that it's understandable how Sotomayor's remark could be perceived as racist.

Personally, I don't have a problem with her nomination. Obama could have stuck it to the right a lot more than he did there.
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I have acknowledged that point more than once here. But throwing carpet bombs by saying she is an outright racist is a futile attempt to rally the right to a talking point. She is more pragmatic than Alito and Roberts combined.

LSUMASTERMIND, Jun 3, 2009

#119
SabanFan The voice of reason

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gumborue said: ↑

you must have gotten a good nights sleep.
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I was awake in a NYC hotel bed at 2:00 am (1 am Central), got up at 3:45 and walked to the WTC station for a 5:00 PATH train to Newark. The NJ Transit trains to EWR run an hour apart at that hour so I couldn't risk missing the 5:42 as I had a 7:30 flight to Houston. Right now I'm waiting out a 3 hour layover in Houston. so... NO! I DID NOT GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP!! :angryfire

LSUMASTERMIND said: ↑

I have acknowledged that point more than once here. But throwing carpet bombs by saying she is an outright racist is a futile attempt to rally the right to a talking point. She is more pragmatic than Alito and Roberts combined.
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Surely you're not directing that at me.

And I didn't call you Shirley.:hihi:

SabanFan, Jun 3, 2009

#120

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