If the "next" revolution isn't televised, most likely it will be Twittered.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has been generating more headlines for the GOP then he has in years, decided to push a little further Wednesday than many of his fellow Republicans who have been claiming that President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, once made a racist comment.
Gingrich Twittered, "White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw."
Although he resigned from his seat and Speaker title in 1999 after Republicans lost in the mid-term elections (putting a quick end to his first "revolution"), Gingrich appears to be back as a power player for the once again beleaguered Republican party.
Even controversial pundit Ann Coulter wouldn't go so far as to call Sotomayor an out-and-out racist, during an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America Wednesday morning (video link).
Coulter said that the United States Court of Appeals judge was only guilty of a “racist statement” when she suggested in 2001 that “a wise Latina woman” might make better judgments in “race and sex discrimination cases” than a “white male who hasn’t lived that life.”
Gingrich also Twittered that "new racism is no better than old racism."
The Atlantic notes that Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) said that Obama's Supreme Court pick Sonia "appears to be a racist."
Chris Good comments, "Whether or not this line of criticism is politically wise is another question."
The Washington Post noted that on Tuesday, "Senate Republicans responded with restraint to the announcement yesterday, and their largely muted statements stood in sharp contrast to the fractious partisanship that has defined court battles in recent decades."
The leashes might be coming off now.
UPDATE:
White House spokesman Gibbs reponds to Gingrich.
Screen grab of Gingrich Twitter:
posted by David Edwards and Ron Brynaert
Sounds like a pretty benign statement to me and, although I am not a Latina woman I think she makes a valid point. She isn't calling names or otherwise, she is simply stating her opinion as a Latina woman. I think the status quo is just nervous that their power has been threatened.
Proof positive of the obvious truth of Sotomayor's statement ... that a white man (like me) cannot understand a situation of racial discrimination in the same way as a member of a minority that experiences racism. Yes, someone who has personally felt the sting of racism can understand the issue "better."
Seems like all of these old, tired, Republicans are afraid that they are running out of time in this country
I don't know what's better.. Gingrich being an absolute idiot, or letting it be screenshotted.
Ms. Sotomayor has presided and / or collaberated on over hundreds of court cases. If she is a racist, surely it will come out in her rulings.
Gingrich STFU until you know what you (that is you and not a sheet of talking points) are talking about. What an ignoramus.
And someone remind me who Newt Gingrich is. Isn't he a FORMER Speaker of the House who had to resign indignantly after being reprimanded for improper actions? Does ne have a real job or is he just an old fat skinhead fascist spewing hate?
Ms. Sotomayor judged that one right - the old Newt wouldn't have the slightest idea what it feels like to be discriminated against.
Time to send this uber Euronational back to Europe.....
The best thing about Twitter is it allows people like Gingrich to be idiots instantly instead of having to wait until Sunday morning.
All is lost on this one, Newt. The good news is you can shuffle back down to Georgia (take I-95S, turn left on Lester Maddox Hwy) to support your fellow Republicans efforts to revoke birthright citizenship. Yours should be revoked retroactively. Pass it on- Nancy Pelosi IS Pussy Galore. Ha, ha, Poppin' Fresh.
meh, newty lives the sociopathic fantasy of being prez. he holds no office and holds no position of value or opinion, why is he important? someone please remind me?
Now we've gotten to the point that Newt's tweets actually mean something?? Don't we all have better things to do like mop a floor, or scrub a toilet than follow this loon around like he's some kind of expert?? This man is a JOKE...Don't you get it??
Keep it up, Newt. Soon, you guys will talk yourselves all the way back to the Stone Age.
Newt, you are a moron. Since when women should hide their views? No wonder you had to marry so many time.
Is Gingrich giving the heil hitler salute?
Talk about racist....didn't gingrich represent Cobb County , GA......where because of discrimination against gays, the olympic torch that was scheduled to be run thru that county was rerouted. Bigotry isn't just based on skin color.
Why do you have my grandmother in the picture at the top of the page??
They are speaking to their base... their ever shrinking base. It will soon be populated only with underachieving white males who sit in mom's basement, wondering why a) they are not a sports star or the CEO of some big company and b) why women are not interested in them. Then, looking for someone to blame. Ah... this Newt... he makes sense!
Firstly, I have to agree with Jak's (#2) comment and secondly, Judge Sotomayor's comment was not racist. It was a statement of fact. Until you've walked in the shoes of a minority, how would any white person know or understand what discrimination really is. Newt's comment is an obvious thin veil for his disapproval of this highly qualified woman's nomination.
I don't think it necessarily follows that one who has been on the receiving end of some kind of injustice would necessarily have a greater understanding of the problem. (I speak from experience). True enough, such a person would have had the experience, but would such experience allow them to rise to a higher level of compassion or sink to one of revenge? That really depends on the choice such a person might make in such a context, and also on how such a person has grown over time, having the ability to view the experience through, hopefully wiser eyes from a greater life perspective. In such a pluralistic society as ours, surely empathy is right up there with wisdom and a well-examined learning of both the letter and the spirit of constitutional law and human behavior.
That said, empathic behavior and thinking can be exhibited without necessarily having to have been hurt. It's something we all need to develop as part of being a more realized person.
If a judge's record shows evidence of such character, who gives a damn about where they went to college, the color of their skin, societal background, sex or religion. If it was your life that hung in the balance before the court, wouldn't you want to have that kind of person making the decision? Wouldn't you want to be that kind of person?
as with pelosi, the republicans are pretending to resist the appointment of soto...
Don makes a fair point (#21).
Empathy does rank up there with wisdom, compassion and judgment in qualities of a good judge. I say that from personal experience in the judiciary.
I consider myself a highly emphathetic person by nature and after some hard knocks. Still, a deep sense of empathy is different than the wisdom and sensitivity that emerging from personal experience (with racism or anything else). It's not inevitable. But a person--perhaps for example, Sonia Sotomayor--who does take away such qualities from her own experiences is in a very different place than me, even with a highly developed sense of empathy. Doesn't mean a wise, empathetic person not of a minority group cannot judge justly and wisely. Just means she brings something else of great value to the bench.
And Newt Gingrich richly proves Sotomayor's point through his total lack of such qualities.
Keep talkin' or twitterin' Newt! These Republican talking points show the true face of the GOP. Newt and Rush should be given free reign to express to express the moral standards of their party so all Americans can finally see what they truly represent.
White man philanderer should resign.
Its sure re-assuring that Gingrich and Limbaugh are on the point in Amerika's
efforts to stop racism in the US. Gingrich and Limbaugh's problems are that
they were born to late to be players in Berlin in 1933.
I hear Limbaugh is agreed to do a movie next fall.
"Saving Herman Goering" where he plays Goering and reveals the soft, kind
side of Herman Goering. David Horrowiz is producing it and Gingrich will play
the part of Himmler.
I can hardly wait to see it.
Baby Newt: 'member? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5232706
We're living at a time when racists can say anything about white men and get away with it, but let a white man utter a single objectionable thing about any other group, and he's crucified. That's all Newt is saying. For telling the truth he's called every name in the book. And people wonder why so many were alarmed by Jeremiah Wright.
Gingrich should STFU & GTFO, he hasn't ben relevant in over a decade. Who cares what this jackass thinks?
Wickerman you are exactly right. The white man has been in control of this country since it's inception, and is still in control, but they do feel threatened, especially because if/when she gets put on the bench, not only will there be a black man, there will also be a latino woman, and none of those white justices can even begin to fathom what life was like for them.
R. Krueger there was nothing racist about her statement. Take another look at it. She wasn't comparing white men to latino women; she was comparing white male supreme court justices (which have been on the supreme bench en masse since it's inception) to female latino justices, of which there have been none.
I have reservations about her being able to serve on the supreme court, but I still hope she makes it. This is an appointment that, if she makes it, will be her job the rest of her life or until she chooses to resign from it.
That's not gonna be any time soon.
If only she'd been on the bench when they decided it was ok for a school to strip search that student simply because the student was accused, without any other proof, of carrying prescription ibuprofen, and they humiliated that girl without even giving her the option of speaking to a lawyer.
ps: there's no set number in the Constitution regulating how many Supreme Court Justices there are. Obama didn't have to pick anyone; conversely, if he decides to put one or two or ten more people on the Supreme Court, that's his right too.
[...] LINK TO THE FULL STORY HERE: ‘LATINA WOMAN RACIST SHOULD’ WITHDRAW, GINGRICH TWITTERS [...]
Why is this a news worthy article??
Who cares what Newt has to twit about this..
Why is commentary from bobble-heads even considered news..
I don't care what those hate-mongerers Coulter and Newt have to say.. Its old and stale..
We need to move on to more important issues like ending the war in Iraq and fighting for our 6th Amendment that we just lost today..
I fail to see how her remark is racist.
Seriously. Unless white men are really minority women, disguised as white men, how can they know what Hispanics, women, and or any minority for that matter, experience in every day life?
The only thing I gleen from her statement is that because she has a more diverse background, in both social and economic situations, she can speak more to the experiences of the average middle and lower class American, than the white guy who grew up in the suburbs, went to the finest schools that mom & dad could buy, and was made CFO of dad's company right after graduation (which pretty much defines much of the GOP).
Seems to me that if this is what the Gecko and the GOP are going to hammer on, they've got NOTHING ELSE.
Newt:
Why are you still around? Did anyone ASK your fucktarded opinion about anything? Racist?! Your entire party is projecting their bigotry. It's bad enough seeing your fat, pig-eyed face all over Fox News and on the opinion pages of rapidly dying shitrags like the "SF Examiner." Do we really have to hear your proud ignorance all over hate radio and the tee-vee, plus see it on every webpage we click to?
Here's a clue, you nutless moron: you lost your position of power due to unethical behavior. You served -- poorly -- and were relieved of your post. Your "responsibility" to your own greed and the false mission of representing your constituency has been fuckfilled. Now it's time to STFU and leave governance to those unlikely to get their fat, Repug hands caught in the cookie jar.
BTW: What self respecting adult calls themselves "Newt"? Why not just cut your dick entirely off, put on a bow tie like the rest of your party's eunuchs, and crawl around whimpering and pissing yourself like the grovelling bitch you are, Newt?
By using Twitter to get his point across obviously means no one else will listen to him. About the sleaziest thing I have ever heard of!
R. Krueger: Where the fuck does ignorance like yours spawn from? Your vile racism isn't even "cleverly" disguised behind a pointy-headed sheet, as it probably should be.
Take your stupidity back to "Liberty" "University" (opr to whatever backwater shithole it is dumbfucks like you come from. This thread is for those of us who've evolved beyond web-toed inbreeding and toothless, congenital retardation.
Newt, your misogynist complaint that your first wife was "too old and ugly to be First Lady" DISQUALIFIES YOU FROM BEING PRESIDENT OF A GARBAGE DUMP. Don't you have some hos to bang while wife #3, Call-Girl-ista, practices hymns for her PEDOPHILE choir at the Catholic Immaculate Deception Shrine in DC?
She should withdraw because she's a constitution hater and clearly has activist leanings.
I am so completely sick and tired of BOTH PARTIES using the judiciary to get what Congress and the American people won't give them willingly.
We have a Constitution for a reason. If you don't like it (And, admittedly, there are eve parts of it I question myself) then you can CHANGE IT. That's fine..
However just acting like it doesn't, or shouldn't, exist and ignoring it outright is a large part of the mess we find ourselves in currently.
Ya know frankly, I'm not sure who is worse in this regard - Liberal racists and baby killers or Republican torturers and eavesdroppers.
I heard some piece of trash on the radio scream "this is affirmative action." Obviously, the person did not want a Latina or Latino on the court. The same nut said that "most Americans can't pronounce her name." Well that's their problem. Illiterates. Her name is very easy to pronounce for anyone interested in pronouncing it. As for most "Americans," they don't even know what the Supreme Court is or who is on there, so it wouldn't make any difference one way or the other as far as her name is concerned. They don't routinely rattle off the names of Supreme Court justices. I can't stand bigoted, prejudiced trash. The person wanted a fat, old white guy on the court. Fat, old white guys have had affirmative action in this nation since the inception of the nation. Duh.
Will the people at SNL finally catch on to the Newt? His copycating Krusty the Klown with his twittering about the Jihadists caught in New York, Ms. Maria according to his compadre Mickey Huckabee is a desperate man's dyspeptic quest to make it to SNL like Sara P. did.
He along with Cheney, Limbaugh, Rove, Kristol et al are sure making it hard for true and principled Republicans to be taken seriously.
"I heard some piece of trash on the radio scream "this is affirmative action." Obviously, the person did not want a Latina or Latino on the court."
Leftists are so tiring..
They've got all of about three cards to play and they just keep playing them over and over and over again.
Of these, the most tiring is the race card. They point their dirty fingers at someone, make a baseless charge of "ZOMG!!1!! RACISM!" and then sit back and tell themselves how smart they are.
Geniuses to a man..
Jhoffa_ writes:
"Of these, the most tiring is the race card. They point their dirty fingers at someone, make a baseless charge of "ZOMG!!1!! RACISM!" and then sit back and tell themselves how smart they are."
You're right in that the Rethugs who crap on affirmative action aren't necessarily racist. What they are is elitist, and they're pushing a subtle, low-level form of class warfare, and they're merely using race, and undoubtedly gender, as their spiked club, because for them, it's the EASY thing to do. If this nominee had been a white man who had grown up in a working-poor household to reach this level of success, they'd still have talking points, and they'd still make baseless attacks.
So the lefties who claim this is racism aren't really wrong about that. This is racism as a bully pulpit tactic, and probably not so much racism as a deeply held and deeply flawed personal belief on the part of these Rethugs.
Wildcat
"You're right in that the Rethugs who crap on affirmative action aren't necessarily racist. What they are is elitist, and they're pushing a subtle, low-level form of class warfare, and they're merely using race, and undoubtedly gender, as their spiked club.."
I disagree..
Many of the rank and file aren't elitest at all. Not in the least.
In fact, there is a mass exodous going on right now because of the elitism of the party leadership. They gave the rank and file the finger for 8 long years.. Here is the result:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1207/republican-party-identification-slips-nationwide-pennsylvania-specter-switch
Currently, the real Republican elitists are running around, screaming at the sky and attempting to re-fight the battles of the last 8 years. Meanwhile, they're losing members and identity.
Frankly, Affirmative Action bothers me too.. It bothers me allot.
Any time you tell someone: "Sorry Pal, but you're the WRONG COLOR for this job-college admission-contract-etc... Yuk-yuk!" it is racist by definition.
You don't have to be racist to oppose AA.. However, you do have to be a racist to support it.
Idiots like Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter don't know the difference in meaning of the words racist and racial. While Sonia Sotomayor's statement was racial, it isn't in the least bit racist. First of all, white men such as Gingrich and Limbaugh are part of the power white male power structure of government, and Ann Coulter, well she's part of the larger WASP class (Gingrich's recent conversion to Catholicism doesn't count and isn't taking). It's completely nonsense that people don't or shouldn't bring their own personal experiences to interpretations whether it be of literature, policies, or the law. And if they're saying the SCOTUS is an apolitical body, they really should move their comedy routines to the late-late-late night talk shows. These three stooges are really too with their pitiful smack-downs. Had she come out with a statement in favor of torture, they wouldn't be beating her up quite so viciously. Sotomayor saved the great American pastime, and this trio thinks that means they haven't struck out.
Lower than whale feces gingrich could stoop one step lower and call her sodomizer . . .
~
Newt is a dangerous congressmen and is not fit to be in our congress. When N Korea pieced together an old scud missle to let go over Japen because he was upset for not being included in the g7 talks after all S korea was there. Newt first thought was to zap Nkorea with a microwave weapon..Tell me more about this weapon ..Who else have you done this too and why are you not in jail ..Kim and Newt are both crazy..Kims people are starving because of sanctions
JHoffa:
Um, are you saying that it's the LEFT that's yanking out the racist card? Uh, I think you're confused ... it's Gecko & the rest of the rabid and ridiculous right that are calling Sotomayer racist ...
Unless I missed something, I fail to see how the left is using the racist card, when the supremely stupid rabid and ridiculous right are the one's whining, "she's a racist."
newt is a cry baby
Gingrich's political history is a joke-
Remember this bum was kicked out of congress
not to mention he divorced his wife on her death-bed.
Now he's all 'Mr. Sensitive' and has a better understanding of the world-
Yeah- right!
Gingrich is still a 'bum' and is only out for himself
and his pseudo-Rush Lumbaugh life.
The only 'racist' that should withdraw
should be Gingrich himself, and he should retire, forever-
""Um, are you saying that it's the LEFT that's yanking out the racist card?""
No, I'm just flat out saying the left is a bunch of racists and they want the Federal government to enforce their racism in the form of Affirmative Action.
Re-read the post. It's quite clear.
If you are talking about race that is racist. You don't have to be of "color" to experience it. Geezus you folks are dense and this is the GOOD website!!! I agree with Newt. This lady has a brick on her shoulder.
However, you never even get the Federal Judgeship level without being an incredible establishment HACK!!
Gingrich was one of the prime gop (Greedy Old Perverts) Tools in the Last century to start this latest KKKonservative contract on the American People . . .
Pssssssssst ! ~ Neutered Neut thinks we don't remember that he resigned it *DISGRACE* !
For ethics violations & adultery while impeaching Clinton for lying about adultery.
Get used to Repeating the TRUTH Over and Over and Over again . . .
As gop repeats LIES over again employing the proven nazi propaganda technique of;
"Repeat a lie long enough and it becomes the trouth"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmR2bmFqxLA
I voted Republican straight across the board twice in the national elections.
What an ignorant mistake.
Now I'm a registered "Independent." The republicans are imploding in on themselves.
I've had it with the the Republican party.
Jhoffa: God, the fucktards just keep on coming.
Idiot fucks like you are tiring. You add nothing intellectual to any topic you discuss. Your party -- your entire convservative philsophy -- is as bereft of ideas as it is of compassion.
Please stick your head back up your ass where it belongs. You were doing fine in that position before you opened your ignorant mouth.
GOP closet racists like Gingrich are always among the first ones to project their own racists beliefs upon others.
Gingrich won't be happy until somebody "just like him" is nominated. I find it interesting that the most right of the GOP have the most to say when they cannot even organize the mess that IS the GOP.
It is ironic no one sees the double standard. Sotomayor's comment is sexist and racist on its face. Whether she is or not is another question.
Can you imagine how diffferent the liberal press and all the Democrats would handle this situation if Sarah Palin had made the exact same comment (even though she is not Latino)? She would have been crucified as an extreme racist. There is no question that this is a racist comment from Sotomayor and that she is incapable of putting her race and gender apart from her rulings.
nielsk: At least there's no question regarding your sexism and racism. Ironic is your banal display of ignorance in trying to demonstrate what you perceive as "ironic."
And Chris: Fuck Sarah Palin, and fuck you. Sarah Palin IS a racist and a sexist, and has been caught repeatedly proving it; read a little from her state newspapers and you'll find multiple accounts of her naked bigotry.
Once more for the morons on this thread: Sotomayor's comments have been taken out of context by you and by the MSM (I'd say "conservative MSM" but that's repetitious) and diminished to a handful of straw man quotes that fit your and their conservative bullshit agenda. Keep spinning the truth to fool idiots like you; the rest of us aren't buying your shoddy goods.
P.S. -- There is no "liberal" press other than the fictitious boogey man conservative nutsacks like you fabricate to scare the villagers. If capitalism is at its base, it isn't liberal.
Sonia Sotomayor made a ridiculous statement. It's just as wrong for her to imply that she would have certain instrinsic knowledge solely because of her race or gender as it would be for anyone else (for example, a white male) to make a claim to that kind of inherent knowledge or insight. That being said, it was a single statement and shouldn't be a primary factor in determining whether Sotomayor is qualified to be a Supreme Court justice.
The problem with these kinds of situations is that many people react too far one way or another. People either want someone's head based on a single, controversial statement, or they overlook a foolish statement altogether and pretend that such an indefensible statement actually makes sense. Sotomayor seems to be a very competent, qualified judge who would make a good addition to the Supreme Court. That being said, the statement she made was inaccurate, stupid, and indefensible. It shouldn't be a huge factor in her consideration, because there isn't a pattern of such statements; but it definitely wasn't a judicially sound, nor a professional moment for her.
These republicans are determined to kill the party. Who are Limbaugh, Cheney, and Gingrich anyway? And Ann Coulter? Devil woman for sure. Poor little woman has never experienced an orgasm. The republican party is doomed to the stone age. Time for for a new party; perhaps the Independent party?
Mr. Gingrich, I received your letter in the mail looking for money. I am sorry to tell you this but; NO!
The Rebublican Party was a dream for me in Massachusetts but I voted for the GOP for 51 years. The party is shot to hell and all we get is you sounding off about stuff.
Get back to basics and work to get the Republican Party back on the right track.
The President is leading us down a path of distruction and the Republicans can't do anything to stop them.
You and your wife do nothing for us. We see our party disappearing before our eyes and all we get is lip service.
You are all total idiots. The functions of a judge. Supreme Court or lower is to interpret and apply the LAW. That does not mean that a judge should interpret and apply the law based on color, sex, creed, religious belief, economic satus, or any other subjective measurement of human existence. It simply means that you read the law and apply it equally to all cases. I could care less that she is "latino" and a woman, she has been a horribly misguided, racist, and unconstitutional interpreter of the law. How is she going to take a supreme court oath to defend and uphold the Constitution when she thinks it is invalid? The President took that same oath and based on his first few months in office, he seems to think the Constitution is both flawed and constraining. If americans would do their research, we could have avoided this entire disaster.
Just because she's a minority and has experienced first hand, racism, does not make her a good judge.
You do not bring race as a playing card in the law arena. I can expect her to go at any white man that is trying to present their case just because he's white.
I am Chinese and I know about racism first hand, I also know of how my white friends get shot down by reversed racism and I think it's ridiculous. If she has anything to prove, prove to us that the 60% reversal rate of her rulings are misinterpreted.
Andrew:
Sigh. As far as Sotomayer's supposed racism as it relates to her experiences as Latina, I certainly didn't hear the rabid and ridiculous right foaming at the mouth about how Sam Alito's 'ethnic' background shaping his judicial philosophy:
"U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court
U.S. SENATOR TOM COBURN (R-OK): Can you comment just about Sam Alito, and what he cares about, and let us see a little bit of your heart and what's important to you in life?
ALITO: Senator, I tried to in my opening statement, I tried to provide a little picture of who I am as a human being and how my background and my experiences have shaped me and brought me to this point.
ALITO: I don't come from an affluent background or a privileged background. My parents were both quite poor when they were growing up.
And I know about their experiences and I didn't experience those things. I don't take credit for anything that they did or anything that they overcame.
But I think that children learn a lot from their parents and they learn from what the parents say. But I think they learn a lot more from what the parents do and from what they take from the stories of their parents lives.
And that's why I went into that in my opening statement. Because when a case comes before me involving, let's say, someone who is an immigrant -- and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases -- I can't help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn't that long ago when they were in that position.
And so it's my job to apply the law. It's not my job to change the law or to bend the law to achieve any result.
But when I look at those cases, I have to say to myself, and I do say to myself, "You know, this could be your grandfather, this could be your grandmother. They were not citizens at one time, and they were people who came to this country."
When I have cases involving children, I can't help but think of my own children and think about my children being treated in the way that children may be treated in the case that's before me.
And that goes down the line. When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account. When I have a case involving someone who's been subjected to discrimination because of disability, I have to think of people who I've known and admire very greatly who've had disabilities, and I've watched them struggle to overcome the barriers that society puts up often just because it doesn't think of what it's doing -- the barriers that it puts up to them.
So those are some of the experiences that have shaped me as a person.
COBURN: Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I think I'll yield back the balance of my time at this time, and if I have additional questions, get them in the next round.
SPECTER: Thank you very much, Senator Coburn.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/27/sotomayor/
As far as Sotomayer's reversal rate:
"But according to data compiled by SCOTUSblog, Sotomayor's reported 60 percent reversal rate is lower than the overall Supreme Court reversal rate for all lower court decisions from the 2004 term through the present -- both overall and for each individual Supreme Court term. Using SCOTUSblog's data, Media Matters for America has also calculated the reversal rate for only federal appeals court decisions:
Term
Overall Lower Court Reversal Rate
Circuit Court Reversal Rate
2008 (preliminary through April 2009)
78%
85%
2007
66%
61%
2006
72%
72%
2005
72%
77%
2004
68%
73%
2004-April 2009
71%
73%"
http://mediamatters.org/research/200905270038
"Sotomayor has been on the appeals court federal bench for over a decade, and during her career, she's written 380 rulings for the 2nd Circuit's majority. Of those 380, five have been considered on appeal to the Supreme Court. And of those five, three have reversed the lower court's decision. That's how the right gets to a 60% reversal rating -- three out of five, as opposed to three out of 380.
Of course, if that 60% figure were really scandalous, the right should have balked at the Alito nomination -- he had two of his rulings considered by the high court, and both were overturned. (That's a 100% rating! He must have been a horrible judge!)
The irony is, Sotomayor's reversal numbers are actually better than the norm, not worse. Media Matters noted yesterday, "[A]ccording to data compiled by SCOTUSblog, Sotomayor's reported 60 percent reversal rate is lower than the overall Supreme Court reversal rate for all lower court decisions from the 2004 term through the present -- both overall and for each individual Supreme Court term."
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018381.php
"In Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw, the U.S. Supreme Court specifically rejected Judge Alito's ruling in a separate case that Congress had no constitutional right to confer the right to private citizens to sue to enforce the Clean Water Act.
In Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, the Court specifically repudiated Justice Alito's finding that Congress had no authority to make the Family and Medical Leave Act applicable to state employees.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Alito's dissent in Casey v. Planned Parenthood.
His own Circuit reversed his decision in Riley v. Taylor in which a criminal defendant challenged the dismissal of all potential African-Americans on the jury.
The U.S. Supreme Court also reversed a death sentence that Alito had affirmed in Rompilla v. Beard (2004)."
http://buckeyestateblog.com/two_can_play_this_game_justice_alito_had_a_high_rate_of_reversal_by_the_u_s_supreme_court_too
Well, by the rabid and ridiculous rights 'logic', with that kind of reversal rate, 100%, Alito should NEVER have been confirmed, right?
I agree with Newt. He should be our President. Hope he runs in 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jhoffa_
Oh, I get it now - Sotomayer was nominated due to Affirmative Action.
LMAO - That's enough reason for me to not take you seriously.
60% of her rulings were overturned...............................hhmmmmm......
give ONE GOOD reason why the firemen that passed the test for advancement should be denied that advancement.
why is there a different interpretation of the law for non-whites? does that mean as a white woman a white female judge would be best for me because she would have "lived that life". Sotomayor is typical of people who think just because you are white that you cannot possibly understand anything about any other race. Come back to reality people. The law is the law and should not be interpreted based on race and circumstance.
“a wise Latina woman” might make better judgments in “race and sex discrimination cases” than a “white male who hasn’t lived that life.”
so what she is saying is if a white and a non-white commit the same crime the judgement should be different. Welcome back affirmitive action folks! You can go to a school you didn't have the grades to get into to, get a job becasue you are considered "disadvantaged" but commit a crime and get sotomajor you will likely get off because of the color of your skin. this country is on its way down the drain.
Martha:
There isn't a different interpretation of the law for non-whites. Where the hell did you get that from?? You tell me how a white man from a priviledged background can have the same life experiences as a minority woman who was disadvantaged in both economic and social status. Also, read my above post which shows that the rabid and ridiculous right seemed to admire Sam Alito for his immigrant background - why is a white immigrant admired for his life struggles, yet a minority woman is ostracized for hers?
Lawman:
Sigh. Read my above post, which clearly shows that Judge Sotomayer's reversals is actually lower than average.
People, think, for fuckssakes.
Where did all the web-toed ignoramuses suddenly come from? Did trailer park let out early today?
Jhoffa_ is a foul white male bigot who bashes all women about their looks, especially if they are disfigured by childbirth, but he opposes all abortions and birth control to prevent those injuries so he can beat the women up afterwards. He's never seen me, but because I survived disfiguring abuse by my antiabortion parents, he blasted me for "having floppy breasts", NEVER MIND HIS PUNY PENIS. Moreover, he bashes gays even though opposite sex twin chimerism causes their condition IN UTERO. He thinks his Nazi bigotries prove his "clever genius". He HATES THE CONSTITUTION.