In nominating Sonia Sotomayor, the president cited both her judicial experience and her compelling personal story.
Washington - President Obama made history Tuesday by nominating the first Hispanic to the US Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
President Barack Obama nominated Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, Reuters reports. “I have decided to nominate an inspiring woman who I believe will make a great justice, Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the great state of New York,” Obama said in a White House event announcing his decision.
President Obama this morning will nominate U.S. appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor of New York to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court, White House officials said.
If confirmed, Sotomayor, 54, would be the first Supreme Court justice of Hispanic descent and only the third woman ever to sit on the panel. She grew up in a Bronx housing project, went on to Princeton University and Yale Law School, and has stirred controversy by saying that judges' legal findings are informed by their own life experiences as well as their legal research.
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 should be judged principally on two grounds: (1) her judicial opinions (which Scotusblog's Tom Goldstein comprehensively reviews here) and (2) her answers at her confirmation hearing. But based on everything that is known now, this seems to be a superb pick for Obama.
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--President Barack Obama on Tuesday will name federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor as his choice to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court, an administration official said.
Obama will make the announcement at 10:15 a.m. EDT at the White House.
Obama's choice of Sotomayor would make history. If confirmed, she would become the first Hispanic woman to sit on the nation's highest court.
President Obama continued to reverse his predecessor's policies this week by undoing a controversial Bush administration rule known as "preemption" that used federal regulations to override state laws on the environment, health, public safety and other issues.
Obama, in a memorandum to federal agency heads issued late Wednesday, said his administration should undertake regulations preempting state laws in rare instances and "only with full consideration of the legitimate prerogatives of the states and with a sufficient legal basis for preemption."
President Obama today ordered federal government agencies to sweep their regulatory histories going back ten years for any regulation that would preempt or block stronger state laws and remove them, reversing a long-running trend towards "preemption" of laws that protect consumers at the state level.
The Obama White House on Wednesday undid a Bush administration policy that used federal regulations to undermine a wide range of state health, safety and environmental laws.
Many of the federal regulations limited the ability of injured consumers to sue companies in state courts.
The move involving a policy known as "pre-emption" marks the latest step by President Barack Obama to redo the policies of his predecessor.
Is New York Law School's Annette Gordon-Reed, the Pulitzer Prize-winning law professor/historian, on President Obama's Supreme Court 'short list'? Or, Alabama lawyer Bryan Stevenson, a MacArthur Foundation 'genius' award recipient and tireless advocate on behalf of indigent defendants and prisoners? How about veteran consumer rights champion Alan Morrison and University of Notre Dame Law School Dean Patricia O'Hara?
The men and women who gather around a table at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights on Friday mornings have ample experience fighting Supreme Court confirmation battles. Now they're hoping to win one.
Already, they're combing through the records of potential nominees, although not, as was the case with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, in search of a way to derail confirmation.
For all the speculation surrounding President Obama's choice to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court, there's been less attention paid to the judges he's already nominated to lower courts. In his first 100 days, Obama put up three federal court of appeals nominations. And, while the circuit courts lack the glamour of the Supremes, Obama's picks so far offer one of the few guides on how he wants to shape the court system.