Comments on: Deconstrution, Minorites And Sonia Sotomayor http://www.politicalcrave.com/2009/05/30/deconstrution-minorites-and-sonia-sotomayor/ Throughts From An American Conservative Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:22:55 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: David http://www.politicalcrave.com/2009/05/30/deconstrution-minorites-and-sonia-sotomayor/comment-page-1/#comment-250 David Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:20:38 +0000 http://www.politicalcrave.com/?p=2187#comment-250 I disagree on a few of your points, but particularly the first one. Before I start - my perspective is a dedicated moderate and non-partisan; that is, I try hard not to come to my conclusion first and don't base, for example, my constitutional views on whether or not it favors my preferred policy. I have no opinion on Sotomayor as of yet and certainly not going to base it on the first few news story, which can't possibly give you an even remotely accurate view of a candidate. Sotomayor did not say she would not try to apply the meaning of the constitution as written. Just because someone recognizes that judges bring their experiences to the table does not mean she will be less able to have an opinion free of biases. I would much rather have a judge on the bench who recognizes that they have biases, as we all do, than one who does not. I think if you polled the judges on appellate courts, they would all admit that they are human and have biases. If it wasn't true, why is it that so often judges on both the left and the right come to constitutional conclusions which just happen to favor their policy preferences? Second, while in my view, Derrida is most certainly correct, that doesn't mean on many sections of the constitution, we are close enough in time and history that we can reasonably well understand what the forefathers meant. Not always, but no reasonable judge expects that they can. The second amendment is probably an example of the worst of the constitution in terms of unclear writing and our inability to really understand it. However, the set up of the three branches is fairly well understood by modern Americans and it is partially why we seem able to have peaceful succession. I do have some qualms about her statement concerning Latinas, but will wait until I hear what she has to say about it before I make my opinion. I'll leave it at that because I don't want to harangue. I I disagree on a few of your points, but particularly the first one. Before I start – my perspective is a dedicated moderate and non-partisan; that is, I try hard not to come to my conclusion first and don’t base, for example, my constitutional views on whether or not it favors my preferred policy. I have no opinion on Sotomayor as of yet and certainly not going to base it on the first few news story, which can’t possibly give you an even remotely accurate view of a candidate.

Sotomayor did not say she would not try to apply the meaning of the constitution as written. Just because someone recognizes that judges bring their experiences to the table does not mean she will be less able to have an opinion free of biases. I would much rather have a judge on the bench who recognizes that they have biases, as we all do, than one who does not. I think if you polled the judges on appellate courts, they would all admit that they are human and have biases. If it wasn’t true, why is it that so often judges on both the left and the right come to constitutional conclusions which just happen to favor their policy preferences?

Second, while in my view, Derrida is most certainly correct, that doesn’t mean on many sections of the constitution, we are close enough in time and history that we can reasonably well understand what the forefathers meant. Not always, but no reasonable judge expects that they can. The second amendment is probably an example of the worst of the constitution in terms of unclear writing and our inability to really understand it. However, the set up of the three branches is fairly well understood by modern Americans and it is partially why we seem able to have peaceful succession.

I do have some qualms about her statement concerning Latinas, but will wait until I hear what she has to say about it before I make my opinion.
I’ll leave it at that because I don’t want to harangue. I

]]>