Maria Echaveste Offers Her Impression of Sonia Sotomayor

The Washington Post, May 27, 2009 by Maria Echaveste
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/26/AR2009052601170_pf.html

Even if she is not a governor or an elected official, she is someone who has a breadth of life experience that can only inform her interpretation of the Constitution. Her story is the quintessential American success story, built on hard work, and exemplifying values that conservatives have at times tried to claim as their own—which, of course, they are not.

Daniel Farber Says Sotomayor’s Cost-Benefit Ruling Bodes Well for Environmentalists

The New York Times, May 27, 2009 by Alex Kaplun
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/05/27/27greenwire-enviro-groups-like-what-they-see-in-obamas-just-6076.html?pagewanted=print

“This was considered a defeat for environmentalists and a victory for advocates of cost-benefit analysis,” Dan Farber, an environmental law expert at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote yesterday on his blog, Legal Planet. “Although Scalia claims to believe in following statutory language to the letter, Sotomayor’s interpretation clearly was more faithful to the statute’s demand that EPA’s standards ‘reflect the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact.'”

Joan Hollinger Believes California’s Gay Marriages Can Set Positive Examples

Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2009 by Carol J. Williams
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prop8-island27-2009may27,0,1635113,print.story

“One role that the 18,000 couples will play, whether they want to play it or not, is exemplars of how the world won’t come to an end,” said UC Berkeley law professor Joan Hollinger. Now that the state’s legal issues have been addressed on Proposition 8, the proponents of equal marriage rights for gays can take up the issue at the federal level, where the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law can be addressed, Hollinger said.

Jesse Choper Explains Impact of Prop 8

-KRON-TV, May 27, 2009 by Mark Jones
http://serve.castfire.com/video/101413/101413_2009-05-27-004144.mp4

“The pro-gay rights people are going to have a constitutional amendment to be put on the ballot, a ballot proposition amending the constitution and changing what Proposition 8 did.” Professor Choper says opponents could back to polls, too, and try to throw out the 18-thousand gay marriages. “They could do what they failed to do with this initiative and that was to make perfectly clear that there shall be no gay marriage recognized in the state of California, whether it was consummated before or after.”

-CHQR-AM, The Rutherford Show, May 27, 2009 Host Dave Rutherford
http://radiotime.com/program/p_1403/Dave_Rutherford_Show.aspx

The California Supreme Court held that sexual preference is a specially-protected class under the California constitution. Proposition 8 didn’t change that. It simply said … that the special protection does not include the M word, marriage. They still have rights under California Domestic Partnership law, which gives them a substantial number of rights of married couples…. So, this doesn’t mean that all of a sudden California could turn around and say that gays have no special rights under the constitution. That’s not what they did. This was a very narrow and limited denial of a certain aspect of the right.

Goodwin Liu and Jesse Choper Analyze Prop 8 Ruling

Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2009 by Maura Dolan
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gay-marriage27-2009may27,0,1949011,print.story

UC Berkeley constitutional law professor Goodwin Liu said the ruling shows “the court continues to be very deferential to the processes of direct democracy in California.”

Jesse Choper, a professor of constitutional law at UC Berkeley, said the court’s ruling means that voters may take away individual rights “in a limited fashion” and that the scope of the measure will determine whether it is permissible. “The court wasn’t happy about this. Proposition 8 changed their opinion” last year that gave gays and lesbians marriage rights, he said. “The justices stood up and said, ‘OK, people have the right to do so, and it is not a revision because it is limited in scope.’ “

Melissa Murray Recounts Clerkship with Sotomayor

-The New York Times, May 26, 2009 by Sheryl Gay Stolberg
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/politics/27websotomayor.html?pagewanted=all

Melissa Murray, who worked for the judge from 2003-4 … recalled going to a Yankees game with Judge Sotomayor. The judge, a Yankees fan, bought tickets in the bleachers, which Ms. Murray said the judge preferred as a more “authentic experience,” and she appeared to be known to several in the crowd. “We were on the way to the bleachers and people were, like, ‘Judge! Judge!’ ” Ms. Murray recalled. “She is really well known in the South Bronx and kind of a role model in the community.”

-Daily Journal, May 27, 2009 by Lawrence Hurley
http://www.dailyjournal.com/law/index.cfm (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

Melissa Murray … who clerked for Sotomayor from 2003 to 2004, described the nominee as “incredibly smart and unfailingly rigorous in her research.” Murray said Sotomayor’s five years as a federal trial judge in the Southern District of New York following her appointment by Republican President George H.W. Bush helped shape her approach to cases, as did her five years as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan from 1979 to 1984. “As a former trial court judge, she felt it was important to understand what had happened in the trial court below,” Murray said.

Eric Rakowski Criticizes Daily Cal Editorial on Professor Yoo

The Daily Californian, May 26, 2009 by Eric Rakowski
http://www.dailycal.org/article/105774/editorial_regarding_yoo_is_problematic_and_uninfor

The Daily Cal’s editors seem to be recommending a prolonged leave with pay for Professor Yoo…. But how could the campus justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in this way, especially in lean times? Professor Yoo’s teaching and service have always been above reproach. His advanced civil procedure course for fall 2009 is currently oversubscribed, with 123 students enrolled and more on the wait list. It is doubtful that the Law School could find an equally able instructor to replace him this late in the planning cycle, and hiring a visitor, even if possible, would be quite costly.

Jesse Choper, Goodwin Liu, and Herma Hill Kay Affirm Legality of State’s Same-Sex Marriages

-Legal Pad Blog, May 26, 2009 by Petra Pasternak
http://legalpad.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/05/prop-8-stands-but-what-about-the-18k-marriages.html

“There is absolutely no distinction in the law’s eyes between those gay married couples and heterosexual married couples,” constitutional law scholar Jesse Choper said. “They have exactly the same rights,” he said, at least under California law.

It’s probably a bittersweet outcome for those lucky 36,000 people, says Goodwin Liu, a constitutional and civil rights professor. “The upholding of Prop 8 means they are viewed as an exception rather than the rule, and that’s often an uncomfortable position to be in.”

Those who didn’t marry in that window continue to have the same legal rights and obligations they’ve always had under the domestic partnership laws, said Herma Hill Kay, who teaches family law. Those include rights to property, inheritance, and all “the tangible aspects of married life.”

María Blanco Discounts Criticism of Judge Sotomayor

-KQED-FM, Forum with Michael Krasny May 26, 2009 Host Michael Krasny
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R905260900

“Nobody has pointed to any opinion where she has been activist. I think the one thing that everybody points to is one line and one speech…. She was under consideration by President Bush, she sided often with Republican appointees in the Second Circuit … so I would not at all jump to that conclusion.”

-KGO-TV, May 26, 2009 by Mark Matthews
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/politics&id=6833290&pt=print

“I think that she’s saying something that everybody knows, and she’s being candid,” said Maria Blanco from UC Berkeley Law School. “I think what she’s saying in that comment, is that it’s good to have somebody on the bench that knows that element.”

-KPIX-TV, May 28, 2009 by Joe Vasquez
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=50694@kpix.dayport.com

“The minute somebody mentions race, we all go a little crazy.” Maria Blanco is Director of the Institute of Race and Ethnicity at UC Berkeley’s Law School. She says you have to look at the context of the speech. Sotomayor was advocating for a more diverse judiciary because many of the issues that come before the courts have to do with women and people of color. “She’s really saying race matters. And ‘race matters’ is not the same as being a racist. Saying race matters is saying look at the reality of our world, still today, you know, in 2009, in spite of how far we’ve come.”

Rachel Moran Vouches for Sotomayor

-Contra Costa Times, May 26, 2009 by Matt O’ Brien
http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_12453948?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

“My recollection is she gave a very polished and elegant speech,” Moran said. “It was warmly received and well-regarded.” Moran said the remarks drew applause and were characteristic of a judge she knows to be funny, direct and smart. “She’s someone who really thinks deeply. She has that broader perspective and the longer view,” Moran said. “She’s not ponderous. She’s not going to be on a soapbox. But she’s very thoughtful.”

-The Huffington Post, May 26, 2009 by Bella DePaulo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bella-depaulo/more-about-sonia-sotomayo_b_207937.html

She has a keen intellect, an articulate voice, and a sense of humor (though this is not usually mentioned in the press coverage). I think she will be a formidable presence on the Court, who will be a lively, engaging, and challenging colleague for the other Justices.

-The New York Times, May 30, 2009 by Laurie Goodstein
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/us/politics/31catholics.html?sq=Berkeley&st=nyt&scp=7&pagewanted=print

“In law school, it was very clear she was committed to serving the community and using the law as an instrument of service to the greater good,” said Rachel Moran, a professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Law who is on leave to help establish a law school at the University of California, Irvine. “That’s a mark of religion, even if she didn’t say so.”