Similar Lives Led Sotomayor, Thomas Down Different Paths

(NEWSER) - Sonia Sotomayor’s views on race have become a hot button topic. But it’s just Republican “race mongering,” writes Derrick Jackson of the Boston Globe. Remember, the GOP “has been the party of racial code words,” from Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” to Reagan’s “state’s rights” speech. Now Rush Limbaugh compares Sotomayor to a former Klan leader, Newt Gingrich calls her a racist, and the party’s leaders sit quietly, approvingly, on the sidelines. More»

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»

Poll numbers plummeted amid Sotomayor, Gates controversies

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s downward opinion-poll trajectory among whites seems to be linked to the “blackening” of his image, writes Joan Walsh in Salon. It accelerated during two racially charged moments this summer: Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, marked with debate over her “wise Latina” comment, and the Henry Louis Gates controversy. At such times, Walsh argues, “there's no denying, he got blacker to a segment of the white population.” More»

In rare interviews, they discuss dynamics of Supreme Court shifts

(NEWSER) - When Sonia Sotomayor takes the bench for the first time next week, the Supreme Court will never be the same—as justice after justice tells C-Span in a rare interview program, each new member transforms the court's composition. John Roberts says that he looks at the bench "like people look at their families," and Clarence Thomas uses the same metaphor: "It changes the whole family. . . . You have to start all over. The chemistry is different." More»

5-4 decision reverses appeals panel that included Sotomayor

(AP) - The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge. In a 5-4 ruling along ideological lines, the court said that New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters scored high enough to make lieutenant or captain. More»