That is a quote from her speech today with His Hollowness’ nomination announcement. I wonder why 1) she doesn’t strive to uphold the law and Constitution as written, and 2) why she’s only concerned about consequences to individuals, businesses and government when her job description is only to uphold the Constitution as written (not how she wishes it was) and laws subordinate to that Constitution?

She apparently has the mental acuity of Schumer or Harriet Meirs. And Carl is correct about the corridors of power being in such places as Berkeley Law, where ivory tower “thinking” is to reality what fishing is to banking: there is in fact no connection whatsoever.

- Lorica

I really hope there is some Republican with the brass ones that does to her what the “leading” donkeys (like Kennedy) have done to every conservative nominee in the last three decades. Especially to make public just how activist this intellectual log is.

And finally, I wonder if the Senate will ever get back to examining the judicial qualifications of nominees? Some nominees, like this one, have been overturned so much they don’t know which way is up.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been talking to a range of people who have worked with her…Most are Democrats and all of them want President Obama to appoint a judicial star of the highest intellectual caliber…Nearly all of them acknowledged that Sotomayor is a presumptive front-runner, but nearly none of them raved about her. They expressed questions about her temperament, her judicial craftsmanship, and most of all, her ability to provide an intellectual counterweight to the conservative justices, as well as a clear liberal alternative.

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.”…

Her opinions, although competent, are viewed by former prosecutors as not especially clean or tight, and sometimes miss the forest for the trees.

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

An inflated self-image and an inability to come to the heart of an issue. Sound like anyone else we know…say, in the White House?

That is, except the Hispanics from Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic and South America. It appears they don’t like ‘Ricans.

This nomination firmly solidifies Pasha al-Chicago in the minds of New York City liberals.