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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:
The Daily Beast, AmSpecBlog, The New Majority, MyDD, Taylor Marsh, American Prospect and Whiskey Fire
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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:
Think Progress, Top of the Ticket, Forbes, Firedoglake, BitsBlog, Open Left, The Foundry, Salon, Mother Jones, The Huffington Post, David Corn and The Daily Dish


Sotomayor's Rulings Are Exhaustive but Often Narrow — WASHINGTON — Judge Sonia Sotomayor's judicial opinions are marked by diligence, depth and unflashy competence. If they are not always a pleasure to read, they are usually models of modern judicial craftsmanship, which prizes careful attention …
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Chicago Tribune, The Fix, City Room, TalkLeft, Opening Arguments, Law Blog, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, The Buzz, NPR Blogs and On Deadline

Identity Justice — Responding to early 19th-century rumors that they drank excessively, the Supreme Court justices decided to drink nothing on conference days — unless it was raining. At the next conference, Chief Justice John Marshall asked Joseph Story to scan the sky for signs of rain.
Discussion:
Salon, Time, Balloon Juice, ParaPundit, News Desk, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Obsidian Wings and United States Senator …


The ‘Empathy’ Nominee — Is Sonia Sotomayor judically superior to ‘a white male’? — Printer — Friendly — In making Sonia Sotomayor his first nominee for the Supreme Court yesterday, President Obama appears to have found the ideal match for his view that personal experience …
Discussion:
Babalú Blog


Inhofe worries that Sotomayor may allow ‘undue influence from her own personal race, gender.’ — Republican members of Congress have been trying to subtly raise questions about Sonia Sotomayor's objectivity — simply because of her non-traditional race, gender, and upbringing.


The New Justice — President Obama seems to have made an inspired choice in picking Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. She has an impressive judicial record, a stellar academic background and a compelling life story. Judge Sotomayor would also be a trailblazing figure in the mold …
Discussion:
Washington Times, Washington Post, The Foundry, New York Post, NY Daily News, Boston Globe and Real Clear Politics

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 …


Obama Hails Judge as ‘Inspiring’
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The Politico, Slate, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, Reason, Cato @ Liberty, Salon, Michelle Malkin, TPMDC, CNN, Swampland, Weekly Standard, The Reaction, NY Daily News, The Huffington Post, THE WEEK News & Opinion, Time, New York Times, the talking dog, Feministe, AmSpecBlog, PoliGazette, TigerHawk, The World Newser, NPR Blogs, The Corner and culturekitchen

Fox's Kelly, ABC's Greenburg skew Sotomayor remark about “Latina …

Yoo on Sotomayor: No Threat to the Revolution
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Would Sotomayor be the First Hispanic Justice?
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The Moderate Voice

The Sotomayor Nomination — The hidden costs of presidential empathy.
Discussion:
The Politico, NewsBusters.org, The Volokh Conspiracy, Bench Memos, Betsy's Page, New York Times, Flopping Aces, The Foundry and Don Surber

Bush vs. Gore rivals challenge Prop. 8 in federal court — Two prominent attorneys who argued on opposite sides of Bush vs. Gore, the legal battle over the 2000 presidential election, announced Tuesday that they will challenge Proposition 8 in federal court and seek to restore gay marriage until the case is decided.
Discussion:
The Opinionator, Associated Press, AMERICAblog News, Macsmind, Law Dork, 2.0, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Calitics, #gay and Pam's House Blend
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Prop. 8 Challenge Filed in Federal Court — In a bold move that takes a new approach to achieving marriage equality, two attorneys who argued opposing sides of the 2000 Bush v. Gore lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court have filed a challenge to Proposition 8 in federal court, The Advocate has learned.

Burris on tape offering a check for Blagojevich — A transcript of a secretly recorded phone call between the brother of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Roland Burris was released in federal court today, a call in which Burris, then seeking the Senate seat, was recorded offering the Blagojevich campaign a campaign check.
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North Korea Threatens Armed Strike, End to Armistice — North Korea threatened military action in response to South Korea joining a program to seize weapons shipments, and said it's no longer bound by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War. — South Korea's actions are tantamount to a …
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(LEAD) N. Korea launches additional missile into East Sea: official — North Korea launched an additional short-range missile from its east coast Tuesday night, an official at the South Korean presidential office said Wednesday. — “The North appears to have launched a ground-to-ship missile …

Exploding debt threatens America — Standard and Poor's decision to downgrade its outlook for British sovereign debt from “stable” to “negative” should be a wake-up call for the US Congress and administration. Let us hope they wake up. — Under President Barack Obama's budget plan, the federal debt is exploding.

AT&T May Have Swayed ‘Idol’ Results — LOS ANGELES — AT&T, one of the biggest corporate sponsors of “American Idol,” might have influenced the outcome of this year's competition by providing phones for free text-messaging services and lessons in casting blocks of votes at parties organized …


Montana town wants Gitmo detainees — HARDIN, Montana (CNN) — The tiny town of Hardin, Montana, is offering an answer to a very thorny question: Where should the nation put terror detainees if the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is shut down by the end of the year as President Obama has pledged?
Discussion:
RedState


Canada official eats seal heart — Canada's governor general, Michaelle Jean, has helped to butcher and eat a seal in an apparent act of solidarity with hunters. — Ms Jean used a traditional Inuit knife to help gut the animal then ate a slice of raw heart.