Sotomayor Guides Court’s Liberal Wing

[cali]

By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: December 27, 2010


At her confirmation hearings last year, Sonia Sotomayor spent a lot of time assuring senators that empathy would play no part in her work on the Supreme Court.

<snip>

But for anyone looking for insight into the justices, there was much more information to be gleaned from another genre of judicial writing. In the last three months, the court has turned down thousands of appeals, almost always without comment. On seven occasions, though, at least one justice had something to say about the court’s decision not to hear a case.

<snip>

Justice Sotomayor wrote three of the opinions, more than any other justice, and all concerned the rights of criminal defendants or prisoners. The most telling one involved a Louisiana prisoner infected with H.I.V. No other justice chose to join it.

The prisoner, Anthony C. Pitre, had stopped taking his H.I.V. medicine to protest his transfer from one facility to another. Prison officials responded by forcing him to perform hard labor in 100-degree heat. That punishment twice sent Mr. Pitre to the emergency room.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/us/politics/28bar.html?_r=1

[RandomThoughts]

1. Why would he refuse to take medication and yet agree to do the labor?

That does not make sense, I doubt that story.

[unblock]

4. he was "forced" to do the labor

the story doesn't how they "forced" him to do this, but perhaps he prefered hard labor to solitary confinement or loss of various privileges or whatever other punishment they threatened.

besides, not every thing every plaintiff does makes 100% sense. in fact, it's almost axiomatic that at least one party in any case did something that doesn't make sense.

[DonCoquixote]

2. Of course

Some of the people that said Sotomayor would be right wing could offer apologies:

(crickets)

[Arkana]

3. That corporatist banksterfascist DLC sellout?!

[Pirate Smile]

5. LOL.

It looks like Obama got what he wanted.

If anyone missed the LA Times article on both of the new justices today - here you go:

Sotomayor, Kagan shift Supreme Court debates to the left
The liberal wing is no longer drowned out by Scalia and his fellow conservatives during oral arguments.

By David G. Savage, Washington BureauReporting from Washington — For most of the last two decades, Supreme Court conservatives led by Justice Antonin Scalia dominated the debates during oral arguments. They greeted advocates for liberal causes with sharp and sometimes caustic questions, putting them on the defensive from the opening minute.

But the tenor of the debate has changed in recent months, now that President Obama's two appointees to the court, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, have joined the fray and reenergized the liberal wing.

Gone are the mismatches where the Scalia wing overshadowed reserved and soft-spoken liberals like now-retired Justices David H. Souter and John Paul Stevens. Instead, the liberals often take the lead and press attorneys defending the states or corporations.

"They're clearly on a roll," said Washington attorney Lisa S. Blatt, who has argued regularly before the high court. "They are engaged and really active. It just feels like a different place."

That dynamic was on display this fall, when a court that leans conservative on cases of crime and punishment heard California's appeal in a case where a panel of three federal judges had ordered the release of about 40,000 prisoners. The state's lawyer stepped to the lectern with reason to expect a friendly reception.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/26/nation/la-na-court-arguments-20101226