memeorandum: Top U.S. military officer pushes Guantanamo closing (Will Dunham/Reuters)

3:45 PM ET, May 26, 2009

Top Items:

Huck comes out firing — at ‘Maria’ Sotomayor — Mike Huckabee comes out hard against the Sonia Sotomayor appointment, with a bit of a misfire as concerns her name: … post comment | … Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1) — Unbelievable. How do you still have credibility in judging …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Huck PAC, Mother Jones, David Corn, Law Blog, Newsbroke and Open Left

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:

Obama Chooses Sotomayor for Supreme Court Nominee — President Obama will nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as his first appointment to the court, officials said Tuesday, and has scheduled an announcement for 10:15 a.m. at the White House.

Discussion: USA Today, MSNBC, Judgepedia, Above the Law, The Moderate Voice, Taegan Goddard's …, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, TalkLeft, American Power, Runnin' Scared, beliefnet, Law Dork, 2.0, AMERICAblog News, Pam's House Blend, The Nation and Los Angeles Times

New York Times:

Obama Picks Sotomayor, Citing Intellect — WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Tuesday that he will nominate the federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, choosing a daughter of Puerto Rican parents raised in a Bronx public housing project to become the nation's first Hispanic justice.

Aaron Blake / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:

RNC fumbles Sotomayor talking points — Whoops. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has apparently inadvertently released its list of talking points on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. — Included on the released list were a few hundred influential Republicans …

Discussion: TPMDC, CBS News, Washington Monthly, Baltimore Sun, Christy Hardin Smith, Discourse.net, DownWithTyranny! and PR Newswire

Tom Goldstein / SCOTUSblog:

The Dynamic of the Nomination of Sonia Sotomayor — The White House will announce a Supreme Court nominee at 10 a.m. The Senate Judiciary Committee will likely hold hearings in the third week of July, permitting written committee questions the following week and a floor vote before Congress leaves …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Think Progress, Swampland, Ben Smith's Blog, Christy Hardin Smith, The Moderate Voice, Democracy in America, NPR Blogs, Don Surber, ACS Blog, The Plank, White House Watch, The Plum Line and The Volokh Conspiracy

Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:

Conservatives Blast Obama's Hispanic SCOTUS Nominee As ‘Not The Smartest’ And An ‘Intellectual Lightweight’ — When the media began floating Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a possible Supreme Court nominee, one of the first comprehensive articles to come out was a piece by Jeffrey Rosen in The New Republic.

Discussion: American Prospect, Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Business Channel, Taegan Goddard's …, TPMDC, Weekly Standard, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Crooks and Liars, The Huffington Post, New York Times, About.com Conservative …, Bench Memos and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Favorites of Left Don't Make Obama's Court List — WASHINGTON — Pamela S. Karlan is a champion of gay rights, criminal defendants' rights and voting rights. She is considered brilliant, outspoken and, in her own words, “sort of snarky.” To liberal supporters, she is an Antonin Scalia for the left.

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, The Note, The Politico, The Swamp, Toby Harnden's blog listings, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Opening Arguments, Swampland and The Caucus

Richard A. Epstein / Forbes:

The Sotomayor Nomination — In a previous Forbes column, I decried President Barack Obama's insistence that empathy would weigh heavily in the scales when it came to his next Supreme Court nominee. And reading the arguments that were put forth to justify the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor …

Discussion: The Politico, The Swamp, The Volokh Conspiracy and Ben Smith's Blog

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Obama's choice of Sotomayor deserves praise — Reports indicate that President Obama has selected Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court. The announcement will be made formally this morning at 10:15 a.m. EST. This nomination …

Discussion: tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com, American Prospect, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Power Line, Think Progress, PrawfsBlawg, Michael Calderone's Blog, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake and The Huffington Post

John Yoo / The Enterprise Blog:

Empathy Triumphs Over Excellence — President Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor shows that empathy has won out over excellence in the White House. Sotomayor has sterling credentials: Princeton, Yale Law School, former prosecutor, and federal trial and appellate judge.

Discussion: D-Day

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Sonia Sotomayor's greatest hits — Courtesy of our friends at Verum Serum, who have plenty more to say about Sonia Sotomayor. Not only do we have Sotomayor essentially admitting that she sees lawmaking as the purview of courts, but a speech given in 2001 makes Sotomayor sound like the kind …

Discussion: CNN, Michelle Malkin, The Jawa Report and NPR Blogs

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Why Sotomayor Was Appointed by a Republican President in '92

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Newsweek Blogs

CNN:
Sotomayor nominated for Supreme Court

Discussion: New York Times, Balkinization, Outside The Beltway and The Moderate Voice

Ilya Somin / The Volokh Conspiracy:
The Sotomayor Pick: I am not yet sure what position to take on …

Discussion: Cato @ Liberty, Townhall.com, Pajamas Media, QandO, Little Green Footballs and The Washington Independent

Mark Halperin / Time:
Judge Sonia Sotomayor Headed for Easy Supreme Court Nomination

Discussion: The Opinionator, Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly, Salon and BBC

The Plank:
The Sotomayor Nomination

Discussion: New York Times

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Obama picks Sotomayor for SCOTUS slot

Discussion: Associated Press, Fox News, Weekly Standard, Verum Serum, Track-A-'Crat and Shot in the Dark

David Brody / The Brody File:
Sotomayor's Abortion Related Ruling

Discussion: The Hill, The Atlantic Politics Channel and The Corner

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
How the White House Will Sell Sotomayor

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Newsweek Blogs

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:
Re: Is Opposing Satomayor Anti-Hispanic?

Discussion: Washington Monthly and MoJo Blog Posts

Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Seven GOP Sens voted for Sotomayor in '98

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, The Daily Dish, The Field on the Narcosphere, The Politico, Firedoglake and Washington Monthly

Ben Feller / Associated Press:
Sotomayor nominated to high court _ first Hispanic

Discussion: Newsvine, The Moderate Voice, Associated Press and PunditGuy

Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times:

Prop. 8 upheld by California Supreme Court — The justices uphold the same-sex marriage ban but also rule that the 18,000 gay couples who wed before the November vote will stay married. The decision is sure to spark another ballot box fight. — Reporting from San Francisco …

Shelby Grad / L.A. Now:

California Supreme Court upholds Prop. 8; gay marriage remains banned in state — The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the election will continue to be married under state law.

Discussion: Firedoglake, San Francisco Chronicle, Calitics, Ben Smith's Blog, JammieWearingFool, Michelle Malkin and Runnin' Scared

John Schwartz / New York Times:

California Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Same-Sex Marriage — The California Supreme Court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage today, ratifying a decision made by voters last year that runs counter to a growing trend of states allowing the practice. — The decision, however …

Discussion: New York Magazine and Don Surber

San Francisco Chronicle:
Same-sex marriage ruling draws a crowd

Discussion: CNN, Shakesville and The Volokh Conspiracy

Ashley Surdin / Washington Post:
California Supreme Court Upholds Same-Sex Marriage Ban

Discussion: The Fix and The Atlantic Politics Channel

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Split Decision on Prop. 8

Discussion: Law Dork, 2.0, San Francisco Chronicle and GayPatriot

Wall Street Journal:

Millionaires Go Missing — Maryland's fleeced taxpayers fight back. — Printer — Friendly — Here's a two-minute drill in soak-the-rich economics: — Maryland couldn't balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy.

Discussion: The Atlantic Business Channel

The Huffington Post:

Petraeus Endorses Obama's Plans To Close GITMO, End Torture — General David Petraeus said this past weekend that President Obama's decision to close down Gitmo and end harsh interrogation techniques would benefit the United States in the broader war on terror.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Politics Daily

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
Transcript: RFE/RL Interviews U.S. Central Command Chief, General David Petraeus

Discussion: Think Progress

The Huffington Post:
Former Interrogator Rebukes Cheney For Torture Speech (VIDEO)

Discussion: Raw Story

Will Dunham / Reuters:
Top U.S. military officer pushes Guantanamo closing

Discussion: Obsidian Wings

Forbes:

Is Obama Another Jimmy Carter? — North Korea thumbs its nuclear nose at Washington. — During the U.S. Presidential primaries last year, I had expressed my misgivings that Barack Obama might turn out to be another Jimmy Carter, whose confused thinking and soft image paved the way for the success of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Discussion: DISSENTING JUSTICE and Newshoggers.com

Blaine Harden / Washington Post:
Report: North Korea Test-Fires 2 More Missiles

Discussion: New York Times, Daniel W. Drezner, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, The Takeaway, US Department of State, The Washington Note, Flopping Aces, FOX Forum and The Atlanticist

Joe Klein / Swampland:
Testy NoKos — There is all sorts of hand-wringing going on today …

Discussion: Washington Post, White House Watch and WhirledView

Wall Street Journal:
Korea's Obama Test

Discussion: Washington Post, The Politico, Shadow Government, Commentary and The Hill

City Hall:

Weiner Will Not Run for Mayor — One-time frontrunner to skip race against Bloomberg — Confirming suspicions that have circulated since he informed supporters in April that he would be suspending his campaign, Rep. Anthony Weiner is ending his mayoral aspirations for 2009, according to a source with knowledge of the decision.

Discussion: The Daily Politics, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Spin Cycle and Taegan Goddard's …

Dionne Searcey / Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Cracks Down on Corporate Bribes — The Justice Department is increasing its prosecutions of alleged acts of foreign bribery by U.S. corporations, forcing them to take costly steps to defend against scrutiny. — The crackdown under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA …

Discussion: DailyFinance