McCain To Vote "No" On Sotomayor
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announced today that he will vote against Sonia Sotomayor, Pres. Obama's nominee to become the first Hispanic SCOTUS justice.
McCain, in a Senate floor speech:
Again and again, Judge Sotomayor seeks to amend the law to fit the circumstances of the case, thereby substituting herself in the role of a legislator. Our Constitution is very clear in its delineation and disbursement of power. It solely tasks the Congress with creating law. It also clearly defines the appropriate role of the courts to "extend to all Cases in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties." To protect the equal, but separate roles of all three branches of government, I cannot support activist judges that seek to legislate from the bench. I have not supported such nominees in the past, and I cannot support such a nominee to the highest court in the land.
McCain voted against Sotomayor's nomination to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in '98, so his decision is not entirely surprising. But like his friend and GOP colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC), McCain has decried the politicization of judicial nominations that led to a failed Dem filibuster of Justice Samuel Alito. Graham, citing a desire to "start over" on the Senate's advise and consent role, was the only GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Cmte to support Sotomayor's nomination last week.
McCain is also seeking re-election in '10. While he coasted to re-election in '04, he won AZ in last fall's presidential race by just single digits.
More than 30% of AZ's population is Hispanic, according to the latest Census estimates, and exit-poll data shows McCain won only 41% of the Hispanic vote last fall in his home state. According to that data, Hispanics made up roughly 16% of the '08 electorate in the state.
Yeah I see this as a political ploy. Hopefully the Hispanics in AZ boot him over his empty pandering. A vote for Sotomayor is a vote for Hispanic-friendly policies.
I am disappointed in McCain.
I strongle support this rinos opposition in the primaries...no matter who
?
Testosterone injections?
Did the Cuda give him a good lecture?
Pretty shocking.
If you subsituted what she said regarding the wise Latina woman, with wise white man - their would be riots in the streets.
It looks like McCain learned from 2008 that Hispanics care nothing for fair treatment, just free stuff, placing them squarely in the Dem column when it comes time to vote. Good on him.
McCain is a fool and not to be respected - Just think, his first MAJOR decision as a potential President was to pick Sarah Palin of Alaska???
This guy is a has been - he finished and we have no respect for him. Retire John.
Way to go McCain!!!! You are starting to see the writing on the wall. We want America back. This is a great country, and all of those critics can go find another place to live.
A vote for Sotomayor is a vote for Hispanic-friendly policies.
Which is exactly the problem. A judge isn't supposed to rule based on the race of the parties in a case. A judge is supposed to rule based on the law as it is written. Likewise, a Supreme Court justice is supposed to rule based on what the Constitution says, not what they wish it said.
Just think, his first MAJOR decision as a potential President was to pick Sarah Palin of Alaska???
Compared to Biden, Palin is a genius. What was Obama drinking when he thought choosing Biden was a good idea?
McCain is voting against Sotomayor on principled, Constitutional grounds. You're just missing the point, smith--a vote for a judge should not be a vote for any policies, because the Constitution has clearly put the Legislature in the position of policy-making. The fact that Sotomayor considers this the job of the judicial branch (and you do, too) shows that she is unfit to interpret the Constitution, which is the Supreme Court's job.
I'm glad McCain was clear that this is an issue of the Constitution, not of partisan politics. Too bad that liberals couldn't give Alberto Gonzalez the same treatment.
Sotomayor is the first Hispanic female justice.
Cardozo, of Portuguese stock, was the first Hispanic justice.
McCain can vote against Sotomayor because she's Puerto Rican and the voters of Mexican and Central American heritage in AZ could care less about a Puerto Rican step-n-fetchit flunkie for the white liberal Northeastern power establishment ludicrously purporting to 'speak for' all hispanics at the expense of judicial integrity. She's obviously a total sellout to the wealthy white elitists' grievance industry and has nothing to do with real hispanics in the Southwest or their ethnic experience there.
Racist whites (and, alas, racist blacks too, it would seem) in Washington DC make a mistake by continually trying to paternalistically lump all latinos together as though they're one big monolithic herd of dumb brown lemmings who can be played by the leftist Anglos' stupid self-serving race card so blatantly.
I'm not exactly sure how to define "Hispanic" in this case, or what definitions people are using, but I feel constrained to point out that Benjamin Cardozo was a Sephardic Jew whose family was originally from Portugal and had been in the US since before the Revolution.
Just sayin'.
Some people may see him as Hispanic, but as far the Jewish community is concerned, at any rate, he was one of us.
As far as that goes, I know a family of Jews from Mexico City whose forbears are from Poland. Spanish is their native language and they serve their gefilte fish with salsa rather than horseradish.
Are they Hispanic?
Arizona Democrats thank you Walnuts!