We haven't said much about the Sotomayor confirmation hearings on this blog in the last couple of days, because there hasn't been much to say. Randy Barnett's prediction of the Seinfeld Hearings has regrettably proven correct. Day one was vacuous opening statements by senators and a very brief and nearly content-free statement by the nominee.
For those of us whose primary interest is criminal law, today's questions have been a huge disappointment. Despite being a major portion of the Supreme Court's docket, criminal law has been barely mentioned. On the one huge issue where major explanation is required, capital punishment, we haven't heard a blasted word.
Update: Finally, a few words, very few, at 4:52 in the afternoon. Question by Senator Graham. SCOTUSblog's live blog reports the exchange as follows:
Senator Durbin is very concerned about all the innocent inmates on death row in Alaska and Massachusetts. Reminds me of an old Mary Tyler Moore episode in which Phyllis was on a crusade to abolish capital punishment in Minnesota, completely undeterred when Mary told her Minnesota didn't have capital punishment.
Judge Sotomayor did not commit herself, but the tone of her answer gives me a little better feeling she will not go the Blackmun route on us.
After these updates, the title of this post isn't quite right, but the titles are tied to the URL's in the blog's Movable Type software, and it's better not to tinker with the machinery of blogs, as Justice Blackmun might have said.
For those of us whose primary interest is criminal law, today's questions have been a huge disappointment. Despite being a major portion of the Supreme Court's docket, criminal law has been barely mentioned. On the one huge issue where major explanation is required, capital punishment, we haven't heard a blasted word.
Update: Finally, a few words, very few, at 4:52 in the afternoon. Question by Senator Graham. SCOTUSblog's live blog reports the exchange as follows:
LG [Lindsey Graham]: what's your view personally on the death penalty. SS[Sonia Sotomayor]: the S. Ct. has determined that the DP is constitutional in certain situations. I have rejected challenges to the federal law in the one case I had, which is a reflection of my view. LG: as an advocate, did you challenge the DP. SS: I never litigated it. LG: did you sign a memo. SS: I signed a memo for the Board to consider on behalf of the Latino community on reinstating the death penalty.At about 5:00, Sen. Durbin, of all people, asks about Justice Blackmun's notorious dissent in Callins v. Collins, 510 US 1141, 1143 (1994), and about the PRLDEF memo. [Notorious is my opinion; Durbin probably does not agree.]
Senator Durbin is very concerned about all the innocent inmates on death row in Alaska and Massachusetts. Reminds me of an old Mary Tyler Moore episode in which Phyllis was on a crusade to abolish capital punishment in Minnesota, completely undeterred when Mary told her Minnesota didn't have capital punishment.
Judge Sotomayor did not commit herself, but the tone of her answer gives me a little better feeling she will not go the Blackmun route on us.
After these updates, the title of this post isn't quite right, but the titles are tied to the URL's in the blog's Movable Type software, and it's better not to tinker with the machinery of blogs, as Justice Blackmun might have said.
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