Legal Research

The view of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor that is emerging is a salutary reminder that the labels "conservative" and "liberal" often obscure more than they reveal.  The videos she released to the Senate Judiciary Committee reveal her to be a proud "affirmative action baby," who credits her minority status and experience for her admission to Yale Law School with less-than-stellar test scores.  She argues that diversity is important so that minorities caught up in the legal system can see faces like theirs and be judged by decision-makers whose similar life experience has taught them understanding. 

On the other hand, in remarks on the SCOTUS case Medellin v. Texas, Judge Sotomajor sided with the majority opinion's "conservative" view of the effect of foreign and international law.  The decision shrugged off an International Court of Justice holding that Mexican Death Row inmates who were not helped to contact the Mexican consulate for assistance, as required by treaty, were entitled to new sentencing hearings.  Treaties are not enforceable by private lawsuit, she opined, and are not the law of the land, unless Congress passes a statute making them so. 

She thus reveals herself as a nuanced thinker, who can be trusted to arrive at her decisions judicially. 

See the article in the New York Times.