LA Times: Sotomayor votes reliably with Supreme Court's liberal wing

[usregimechange]

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, at her alma mater, the Blessed Sacrament School in the Bronx, turns out not to be a judicial conservative as some had thought. (Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press / June 9, 2010)


Reporting from Washington —
The early returns are in, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor is proving herself to be a reliable liberal vote on the Supreme Court.

Cases this year on campaign speech, religion, juvenile crime, federal power and Miranda warnings resulted in an ideological split among the justices, and on every occasion, Sotomayor joined the liberal bloc.

"There was some anxiety among liberals last year that she would be to the right of Justice Souter, especially on criminal law, but so far that has not been borne out," Cornell University law professor Michael Dorf said of Sotomayor and her predecessor. "She is clearly part of the liberal wing."

It's not clear, however, that President Obama's first court appointee can be called a liberal "activist," because her major dissents so far have come when a conservative majority has shifted the law.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-sotomayor-20100609,0,5116595.story

[Pirate Smile]

1. So will Kagan but we will get a bunch of angst first.

[usregimechange]

2. Not as sure about her

[EFerrari]

5. Kagan is nothing like Sotomayor. n/t

[KittyWampus]

6. According to many, many DU'ers Sotomayor is nothing like Sotomayor.

[usregimechange]

10. I beg to differ

:shrug:

[cali]

13. I suspect you'll be eating those words

[DefenseLawyer]

3. I am happy to be proven wrong thus far.

I hope she keeps it up.

[usregimechange]

9. I was not as concerned about her as our current nominee

[madrchsod]

4. she`s pretty much the entire liberal side of the court....

kagan is going to be a fine judge too

[usregimechange]

7. I hope you are right, this is a big f#$@ing deal

[Unvanguard]

8. Her opinion in the recent Miranda case was terrific. Brilliantly-written and argued.

She is so awesome.

[Cresent City Kid]

11. We're still up against 4-5 defeats for the foreseeable future

Unless it gets worse and goes 3-6.

[bettyellen]

12. Ha! That's my parochial school, Blessed Sacrament! I.m so proud of her!

[Scurrilous]

14. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Dappleganger]

15. Chew on that one, naysayers!

[usregimechange]

16. Gladly!