Firefighters Drop In on Sotomayor

Obama too timid on federal nominees, with big issues coming

(NEWSER) - With big issues working their way toward the Supreme Court on such vital issues as health care reform, same-sex marriage, affirmative action, and police stops of undocumented immigrants, liberals need to be on guard, writes longtime court-watcher Emily Bazelon for the New York Times . Sure, there are solid progressives, such as Obama appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. But frequent swing vote Anthony Kennedy, while he may side with liberals on occasion, has a voting record on par with Ronald Reagan. More»

'Passionate' Sotomayor, bridge-building Kagan aren't shy during oral arguments

(NEWSER) - It's a bit like Mean Girls: Supreme Court Edition: After decades of the conservative tongue-lashings of Antonin Scalia dominating oral arguments as liberal justices sat on their hands, new kids Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are unabashedly adding their voices to the melee. "Slow down from the rhetoric," Sotomayor told a conservative lawyer before the court; she then launched into what the LA Times calls a "withering discussion" of the case at hand. More»

Liberal stalwart, at age 89, admits, 'I'm not exactly a kid'

(NEWSER) - John Paul Stevens, the senior justice on the Supreme Court and the bench's liberal lion, says he gave serious thought to retiring—in the late 1980s, when he was 65 years old. Instead, while younger colleagues have packed their bags, Stevens has become the court's master tactician, cobbling together narrow majorities for decisions on civil rights, the death penalty, and Guantanamo Bay. Now approaching 90, Stevens suggests to USA Today that he's ready to leave: "That can't be news. I'm not exactly a kid." More»

Justice describes grueling nomination process at Yale

(NEWSER) - Every aspect of Sonia Sotomayor's nomination procedure to become the newest Supreme Court justice was so controlled that she was even told what to wear at the acceptance ceremony, she said in a talk at Yale yesterday. Sotomayor, who appeared on campus for her 30th Yale Law School reunion, wanted to shop for new clothes for her acceptance, but was told to bring five suits for White House officials to choose from, the New Haven Register reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Sonia Sotomayor is preparing for more than her first term on the Supreme Court—she's working on her pitching, too. The Bronx native will toss out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium before Saturday's game against the Red Sox, USA Today reports. The team picked her to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, but she has a big baseball link on her resume: After she issued an order in 1995 that helped end the MLB strike, she became known as "the judge who saved baseball." She's been practicing her throw for weeks. More»