Sonia Sotomayor

Rosen Weighs In On Sotomayor Nomination

Brian Beutler | May 26, 2009, 1:33PM

And does so favorably: "Of course, Judge Sotomayor should be confirmed to the Supreme Court," he writes. "She obviously wasn't my first choice, for reasons I reported three weeks ago, having mostly to do with concerns about her temperament reported to me by former clerks and New York prosecutors. But I hope and assume the White House wrestled seriously with those questions of temperament and weighed them against Sotomayor's other obvious strengths."

He says he objects to the way conservatives have used original article both today and in recent week. "Conservatives are already citing my initial piece on Sotomayor as a basis for opposing her," Rosen notes. "This willfully misreads both my piece and the follow-up response. My concern was that she might not make the most effective liberal voice on the Court--not that she didn't have the potential to be a fine justice."

That piece characterized the possibility of a Sotomayor nomination as a "gamble." More on conservatives citing his article later today.

Sonia Sotomayor

WaPo: Sotomayor Subject Of 'Several' 'Unflattering Profiles'

Brian Beutler | May 12, 2009, 9:28AM

Yesterday, The Washington Post's Dan Balz and Robert Barnes teamed up to pass on anonymous criticism of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who President Obama may nominate to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. In what has become something of a sport in political media these days, the two wrote that "Some say...she has not distinguished herself on the appeals court."

Today, Barnes collaborates with the Post's Robert Shear to report that Sotomayor has "already has felt the glare that comes with being identified as a front-runner, with several unflattering profiles about her temperament and judicial accomplishments."

As we noted in our anatomy of the whisper campaign, these doubts, such as they are, have their roots in a New Republic article by the magazine's legal correspondent Jeffrey Rosen. That piece contains no concrete examples of Sotomayor's supposedly unsuitable temperament, and, if anything, implies a high level of judicial accomplishment. But it does contain several anonymous quotes, and oblique references to other unquoted criticisms of the second-circuit jurist. And, as such, it has served as the fountainhead for a spate of articles implying that the objection to her potential candidacy is legitimate and well-sourced, when, in fact, it isn't.

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Sonia Sotomayor

The Secret Sotomayor SCOTUS Slanders Continue

Brian Beutler | May 11, 2009, 9:44AM

The SCOTUS situation The Washington Post ran an article this weekend called "In Court Pick, Obama Seeks to Be Bold but Not Provocative," and in exchange for passing on this spin, they saw fit to advance anonymous attacks against Sonia Sotomayor--the court of appeals judge thought to be the leading candidate on President Obama's short list to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

Sotomayor presents the most obvious "first" that Obama could fulfill: She would be the first Hispanic justice. And she offers the most compelling life story: Raised by her mother in a Bronx housing project after her father died, Sotomayor rose to the highest academic achievements at Princeton and then Yale Law School. Some say, though, that she has not distinguished herself on the appeals court.

It's unclear whether "some" consists of people whispering to the Post directly, or whether they're relying on the same "some" who approached The New Republic's legal correspondent Jeffery Rosen over the past couple weeks to anonymously question Sotomayor's fitness.

After publishing that article, Rosen himself ultimately concluded that "Sotomayor is an able candidate--at least as able as some of the current Supreme Court justices--and if Obama is convinced she is the best candidate on his short list, he should pick her."