First Things: Sotomayor the Subjectivist

Jun 1, 2009
Robert T. Miller

In all human probability, by the end of the summer Judge Sonia Sotomayor of Second Circuit Court of Appeals will take the seat of Justice David Souter on the United States Supreme Court. On the grossest level, we have one liberal judge replacing another, and so the change is unlikely to affect the outcome of cases in any significant way.

Furthermore, Sotomayor undoubtedly has the kind of qualifications that nominees to the Supreme Court are generally expected to have--excellent legal education at the Yale Law School, experience as a prosecutor and in private practice at a fancy law firm, tenure as a district court judge, and experience as an appellate judge on an important circuit court. Although on the left wing of the ideological spectrum and not a star of the federal judiciary (Souter was no star either, incidentally), Sotomayor is without a doubt a competent jurist and up to the task of being an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Add in that, as everyone knows by now, she’s a Latina with a compelling personal story, and she was a natural pick for President Obama. the rest