SCOTUS pick: It's a Sonia!

By Rick Moran

She's a woman, an Hispanic, and not as liberal as the left would like but too liberal for the rest of us.

President Obama will make it official at a 9:15 AM news conference when he introduces Sonio Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court.

David Jackson of USA Today has the breaking story:

Sotomayor, 54, would be the first Hispanic and third woman in history to serve on the nation's highest court. There is currently only one woman on the high court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Sotomayor is based in New York City. President Clinton appointed her to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals back in 1998. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School.

Two White House officials confirmed the nomination to The Oval. They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing Obama's formal announcement later this morning.

How far left is she? Ideology is in the eye of the beholder but there is little doubt that Obama has outflanked the GOP on this one. If the GOP decides to get nasty with her, it will drive Hispanics even farther away from the Republican party. And because she has demonstrated some pragmatism in the past, there is little doubt that she will be hailed by the MSM as a "moderate" choice which will further complicate opposition.

Those Republican senators from states with large or politically significant Hispanic populations will have to think twice about voting against her.

Thomas Lifson adds: Jeffrey Rosen has provided a fairly scathing critique of Sotomayor's suitability for the Supreme Court.

Here is what he says he learned from sources on the Second Circuit Court among those clerks and others who don't work for Judge Sotomayor:

The most consistent concern was that Sotomayor, although an able lawyer, was "not that smart and kind of a bully on the bench," as one former Second Circuit clerk for another judge put it. "She has an inflated opinion of herself, and is domineering during oral arguments, but her questions aren't penetrating and don't get to the heart of the issue." (During one argument, an elderly judicial colleague is said to have leaned over and said, "Will you please stop talking and let them talk?") Second Circuit judge Jose Cabranes, who would later become her colleague, put this point more charitably in a 1995 interview with The New York Times: "She is not intimidated or overwhelmed by the eminence or power or prestige of any party, or indeed of the media."

Her opinions, although competent, are viewed by former prosecutors as not especially clean or tight, and sometimes miss the forest for the trees. It's customary, for example, for Second Circuit judges to circulate their draft opinions to invite a robust exchange of views. Sotomayor, several former clerks complained, rankled her colleagues by sending long memos that didn't distinguish between substantive and trivial points, with petty editing suggestions--fixing typos and the like--rather than focusing on the core analytical issues.

Some former clerks and prosecutors expressed concerns about her command of technical legal details ....

Not all the former clerks for other judges I talked to were skeptical about Sotomayor. "I know the word on the street is that she's not the brainiest of people, but I didn't have that experience," said one former clerk for another judge. "She's an incredibly impressive person, she's not shy or apologetic about who she is, and that's great."

Call me old fashioned, but I want my justices to stick to the law, master its technicalities, and wear the proverbial blindfold just like Lady Justice in the frieze above the Supreme Court entrance. Empathy for the underdog has no place in determining the law.

Arrogant, educated at elite institutions but not a master of the details, and believing in a thumb on the scale on behalf of her favored victim groups: sounds just like the President.