When Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his pick for Supreme Court, Republicans unleashed the manufactured outrage and generic talking points they had planned for any Obama nominee. But as Ms. Sotomayor’s record is examined, the genuine outrage is coming from the very people who worked so hard to elect Obama in the first place: progressives.
Sotomayor’s slim record on abortion includes support for the anti-choice Mexico City Policy and for the rights of protesters who harass health clinics. Her equally slim record on includes forcing a city council to allow religious displays on public property. (Americans United for Separation of Church and State is urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to ask her some hard questions before it’s too late.)
Douchebag
But the scary side of Sotomayor emerged in the Avery Doninger case. Ms. Doninger was a member of the Lewis Mills High School Student Council (in Connecticut). When she saw school administrators jerking around her fellow students about whether a promised "jamfest" would actually occur, Ms. Doninger complained about administrators’ behavior and referred to them as "douchebags." The principal punished her.
She did not say the offending word to the principal’s face, nor even on school grounds. She used the word in a blog.
For this blog entry, she was banned from seeking re-election in the Student Council, and when she won the election anyway (with enough supporters writing in her name to put her on top), she was banned from serving. The student body was denied its chosen representation, and Doninger was denied recognition as the student leader she clearly was.
Of course there was a lawsuit. And when the case went before Judge Sonia Sotomayor, how did Sotomayor rule? For the school.
Worse was the reason given for dismissing the First Amendment. The opinion signed by Sotomayor declared that the purpose of our public schools is – not to prepare students for citizenship in a free society – but to teach them "proper respect for authority." No wonder Alberto Gonzalez is so enthusiastic about her selection!
Commenting on this ruling, Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley said, "The continual expansion of the authority of school officials over student speech teaches a foul lesson to these future citizens ... teaching students that they must please government officials if they want special benefits or opportunities."
Obama’s Sarah Palin
Sonia Sotomayor’s views seem closer to the views of Dick Cheney than of the man who promised us change. Indeed, when the Bush administration was making its Supreme Court choices, Sotomayor was among those carefully considered. Why did Obama give us a nominee we could have gotten from a Republican?
Sotomayor may be Obama’s Sarah Palin. No, she’s not the bungling amateur Palin was (though colleagues who know her agree Sotomayor is no Einstein either). The comparison is in how she was selected.
When John McCain chose his running mate, he gave little thought to governance and more thought to electoral advantage. With the Democratic ticket excluding Hilary Clinton, McCain figured picking a woman, any woman, would peel women voters away from the Dems. Only after McCain announced his choice did he learn what a poor choice she was.
Likewise, Obama seems to have been so excited by the chance to appeal to Latino voters and women voters, and to disarm cultural conservatives, that he gave too little attention to the lasting impact this woman could have on our country as a crucial vote on our highest court.
At least, that’s what I hope happened, because the alternative is worse. If Obama vetted Sotomayor, if he examined her record and he chose her because of it, then Obama is not the progressive we thought he was, and more betrayals will follow.
Before It’s too Late
Someone, please tell the Democrats we already won the election. Instead of pandering to the shrinking Republican minority, let’s use the power the majority of Americans entrusted to us and deliver the progressive change we promised.
Please, Mr. President, don’t be stubborn like McCain was. Admit you made a mistake and choose someone more suitable for this lifetime appointment.
(also available at My Left Wing)