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Feb. 8, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Lofty ideals must be followed with grounded applications

Clifford D. May: Letter from the West Bank
Steve Rothaus: Judge OKs plan for gay man, lesbian couple to be on girl's birth certificate
Gloria Goodale: States consider drone bans: Overreaction or crucial for privacy rights?
Environmental Nutrition Editors: Don't buy the aloe vera juice hype
Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Harvard Experts: Regular exercise pumps up memory, too
Erik Lacitis: Vanity plates: Some take too much license
The Kosher Gourmet by Susie Middleton: Broccoflower, Carrot and Leek Ragout with Thyme, Orange and Tapenade is a delightful and satisfying melange of veggies, herbs and aromatics
Feb. 6, 2013

Nara Schoenberg: The other in-law problem

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. : A see-no-jihadist for the CIA
Kristen Chick: Ahmadinejad visits Cairo: How sect tempers Islamist ties between Egypt, Iran
Roger Simon: Ed Koch's lucky corner
Heron Marquez Estrada: Robot-building sports on a roll
Patrick G. Dean, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: How to restore body's ability to secrete insulin
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: 3 prostate-protecting diet tips
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen 7 principles for to help you make the best soup ever in a slow cooker
Feb. 4, 2013

Jonathan Tobin: Can Jewish Groups Speak Out on Hagel?

David Wren: Findings of government study, released 3 days before Newtown shooting, at odds with gun-control crusaders
Kristen Chick: Tahrir becomes terrifying, tainted
Curtis Tate and Greg Gordon: US keeps building new highways while letting old ones crumble
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to hear case on arrests, DNA
Harvard Health Letters: Neck and shoulder pain? Know what it means and what to do
Andrea N. Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D.: Eat your way to preventing age-related muscle loss
The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington Baked Pears in Red Wine and Port Wine Glaze: A festive winter dessert
Feb. 1, 2013

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: Redemption

Clifford D. May Home, bloody, home
Christa Case Bryant andNicholas Blanford Why despite Syria's allies warning of retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, the threats are likely hollow
Rick Armon, Ed Meyer and Phil Trexler Ex-police captain cleared by DNA test is freed after nearly 15 years
Harvard Health Letters: Could it by your thyroid?
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: When 'healthy food' isn't
Sue Zeidler: Coke ad racist? Arab-American groups want to yank Super Bowl ad (INCLUDES VIDEO)
The Kosher Gourmet by Nealey Dozier The secret of this soup is the garnish
January 30, 2013

Allan Chernoff: Celebrating 'Back from the Dead Day'

America isn't a religious country? Don't tell Superbowl fans!
Mark Clayton Cybercrime takedown!
Germany remembers Hitler rise to power
Israel salutes U. N. --- with the one finger salute
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Get cookin' with heart-healthy fats
Ballot riles Guinness World Records
The Kosher Gourmet by Elizabeth Passarella Potato, Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin
January 28, 2013

Nancy Youssef: And Democracy for all? Two years on, Egypt remains in state of chaos

Fred Weir: Putin: West is fomenting jihadi 'blowback'
Meredith Cohn: Implantable pain disk may help those with cancer
Michael Craig Miller, M.D. : Ask the Harvard Experts: Are there drugs to help control binge eating?
David Ovalle Use of controversial 'brain mapping' technology stymied
Jane Stancill: Professor's logic class has 180,000 friends
David Clark Scott Lego Racism?
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali The celebrated chef introduces us to PANZEROTTI PUGLIESI, cheese-stuffed pastry from Italy's south


Jewish World Review May 28, 2009 / 5 Sivan 5769

Shaping the Court

By Linda Chavez


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Presidential elections have consequences — and few are more important than the power to shape the federal judiciary. With the selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court, President Barack Obama has begun the process of altering the federal courts.


Sotomayor's selection has sparked controversy already, as much for the judge's pronouncements off the bench as for her judicial decisions as a member of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and as a trial judge. Critics have pointed especially to her comments at a conference at Duke University in 2005, in which she seemed to imply that the role of appellate courts is to set policy, and to a 2001 speech published in the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal.


"Justice (Sandra Day) O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases," Sotomayor is quoted in the journal as saying. "I am … not so sure that I agree with the statement. … I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life," she said.


The statement is offensive, and it is also highly revealing. However, it says as much about President Obama's judicial philosophy as it does about Judge Sotomayor's. In announcing her appointment, the president made clear that he picked Sotomayor because he shares her view that certain personal experiences are as relevant as intellect or judicial impartiality in making a good justice.


"Experience being tested by obstacles and barriers, by hardship and misfortune, (and) experience insisting, persisting and ultimately overcoming those barriers" are important qualifications, he explained in introducing Sotomayor. "It is experience that can give a person a common touch and a sense of compassion — an understanding of how the world works and how ordinary people live. And that is why it is a necessary ingredient in the kind of justice we need on the Supreme Court," he said.


President Obama's words were not as racially charged as Judge Sotomayor's, but the intent was the same. He will choose judges whose life experiences will make them sympathetic to certain classes of people: the poor, ethnic minorities, women and others he considers deserving of empathy.


I expect that in her confirmation hearings, Judge Sotomayor will try to soften her claim that "a wise Latina woman" reaches better conclusions as a judge than a white male. Too bad, because her original candor at least would provoke a real debate over whether a justice should base his or her decisions on the law or on personal experiences and preferences.


This is a debate worth having — and one that avoids defining Judge Sotomayor as a racist, which some opponents of her nomination have charged she is. It isn't just her views on race or gender that are at issue; it is more fundamentally her judicial philosophy that the Senate should consider.


Before the Senate votes to confirm Judge Sotomayor, senators should know whether she believes a justice should be impartial or favor certain groups. They should find out whether she would apply the law as it is written or to achieve a particular outcome. And they should examine her record carefully. She has decided hundreds of cases over 17 years on the federal bench.


A good place to begin is by looking at her recent role at the 2nd Circuit in Ricci v. DeStefano, a case in which Judge Sotomayor sided with the city of New Haven, Conn., in denying promotions to one Hispanic and 17 white firefighters who scored highest on promotion exams. They were denied because no African-Americans qualified. Her decision not only showed precious little wisdom but also, more importantly, ignored both civil rights law and constitutional equal protection. In this case, Sotomayor's empathy turned out to be little more than bias toward the outcome she preferred.

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JWR contributor Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity. Her latest book is "Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)

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