Sotomayor

OK, the pick is in, Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Almost no doubt she will be confirmed unless some serious skeletons come out. The question is, is she the best person for the job? At this point I don't know. From the rulings I have read about she seems extremely liberal (attempts to label her a moderate liberal notwithstanding). I previously posted crticizing her ruling re New Haven firefighters before she was a Supreme Court potential nominee. I would also take issue with her ruling preventing the EPA from performing a cost/benefit analysis when deciding what constitutes the best available technology. It seems absurd that if it is possible to build a billion dollar factory that produces no pollution then a company would be penalized for failing to invest a billion dollars...the EPA was right to think that once the price tag reaches the stratosphere the technology isn't really available (on the flip side multiple studies and case studies demonstrate that once you impose technology on an industry the industry tends to find cost efficient ways to employ it).

These rulings, and a couple of others, are a bit too extreme for me. They also scare me in that too extreme of a position can tend to indicate someone who is either myopic or unable to see shades of grey. Either quality is more than a little problematic in a Supreme Court Justice. I am, however, OK (hardly the ringing endorsement I'd like to give the first Supreme nomination from a Dem in a decade) with Sotomayor. From what I can tell she will support those issues most important to me, and most Democrats, even if she does go too far left on other issues.

I should note I use OK in a bit of an odd sense. I am fairly disappointed (though very open to changing my mind as the nomination process progresses) with the pick. I take it as a given that Obama isn't going to appoint someone who abandons the core principles I believe in. Therefore, the question becomes where will the pick stand on everything else...and I fear often Sotomayor is much further left than I would like. At the same time, the very extreme positions are unlikely to get 4 other votes (she has been overturned in every case I have heard of where she strays very left...I believe by at least a 6-3 margin and often even unanimously). Additionally, in comparison to say Roberts or Alito I am thrilled with this pick. So, OK is the middle ground I am walking between the above average to good pick she represents in the universe of available justices and the poor pick she represents in the universe of justices I could see Obama picking.

That being said, this is a very snap judgment. I hope in 2 months I will find out that I missed some nuance of these cases that complicates the issue and that they are the only ones demonstrating extremely left positions. For the moment I am somewhat disappointed and only cautiously optimistic that Sotomayor will be deserving of Obama's nod. Hopefully my cautious trust in Obama's judgment will prove itself warranted. If not, its still far better than my stalwart belief that W would pick horrific nominees being proven correct.

Madison