Academic

Faculty Blogs: Sotomayor Hearings Begin Today

Hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee begin today.  The committee will decide whether to recommend that the full Senate confirm President Obama's nomination of U.S. Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to fill the vacant seat that David Souter held prior to his retirement at the end of the Court's business in June.  They will be televised in their entirety on C-SPAN.

C-Span also has an interesting poll on its website that covers the American public's general knowledge of the Court [Link to PDF].  A recent CBS Poll finds that 62% of Americans are undecided on the Sotomayor nomination; the C-Span poll gives some reasons why that might be the case.  C-SPAN found that 49% of American cannot name single Supreme Court justice.  Only half know that the court has nine justices and 59% couldn't name the first woman to the high court.  Regarding Sotomayor, 57% could not even name who Obama nominated.

The Founders tried to insulate the Supreme Court from the whims of the mob.  They have succeeded--the mob couldn't pick a justice out of a line-up if he or she was wearing robes and carrying a gavel! 

Full post as published by University of Louisville Law Faculty on July 13, 2009 (boomark / email).