She has the quintescential American dream story to be sure. Sonia Sotomayor has risen from life in the projects and is now poised to be on the Supreme Court. Though they admire her personal story, many conservatives around the country are asking what is the Sotomayor, who is liberal and catholic, position on abortion? Read more below, see photos and a video.
Sonia Sotomayor
Currently a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge Sonia Sotomayor is both a liberal and a catholic and many will be wondering in the weeks ahead just what kind of Associate Justice she would be on the Supreme Court. And for conservatives like myself, the issue of abortion and how she might vote on abortion related cases before SCOTUS is always a concern.
Although Sonia Sotomayor has not had a case dealing directly with abortion rights, it seems that in 2002’s “Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush” she wrote an opinion upholding the Bush administration “Mexico City” policy of withholding funds for international groups that perform or support abortions. Sotomayor held that the policy did not constitute a violation of equal protection, as the government “is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds”. You can go here for a good summary of this particular opinion as well as some of her other appellate cases.
Clearly this one opinion does not give us a clear view of Sotomayor’s abortion views or how she as a catholic or as a liberal would vote when an abortion rights case comes before the high court. In this one case, she went against the liberal group on legal/Constitutional grounds. However, pro-choice groups are loving her nomination, with Planned Parenthood declaring that she “understands the importance of ensuring that our Supreme Court justices respect precedent while also protecting our civil liberties” — code for pro-abortion.
Be prepared for The One’s administration to use this one thin opinion to show that Sotomayor rules by the book (for all of us strict constitutionalists) and is not the identity politics kind of a judge that her liberal considerable record says she is.
More photos and a video from Sotomayor Abortion are below.
Sonia Sotomayor Photos
Sonia Sotomayor Video
May 26th, 2009 at 11:08 am
She will be easily confirmed. Given that conservatives are of diminishing power in Washington, we’ll have to be happy with some small but probably futile hope. At least it isn’t Hillary or Bill.
May 26th, 2009 at 11:53 am
As a conservative, I disagree with Judge Sotomayor’s worldview and her approach to the role of the judiciary. Nonetheless, with respect to the abortion issue, consider also these opinions that she authored in recent years:
1. Shi Liang Lin v. United States DOJ, 494 F.3d 296 (2nd Cir. 2007) (Sotomayor concurrence) – Sotomayor, writing in a separate opinion, questioned the opinion of the majority. The majority concedes that both spouses suffer a “profound emotional loss” as a result of a forced abortion or sterilization . . . the harm is clearly directed at the couple who dared to continue an unauthorized pregnancy in hopes of enlarging the family unit. Indeed, the majority’s conclusion disregards the immutable fact that a desired pregnancy in a country with a coercive population control program necessarily requires both spouses to occur, and that the state’s interference with this fundamental right “may have subtle, far-reaching and devastating effects” for both husband and wife. [citation omitted]. The termination of a wanted pregnancy under a coercive population control program can only be devastating to any couple, akin, no doubt, to the killing of a child. . .
Coerced sterilization is better viewed as a permanent and continuing act of persecution that has deprived a couple of the natural fruits of conjugal life, and the society and comfort of the child or children that might eventually have been born to them. [citation omitted]. Viewed in this light, the harm here is directed as much at the husband as at the wife. By its action, after all, the state is preventing both members of the couple from procreating as a unit . . . The “persecution of one spouse can be one of the most potent and cruel ways of hurting the other spouse.” In the end, I fail to understand how the majority can claim that the harm caused by a spouse’s forced abortion or sterilization is not a personal harm to both spouses — either or both of whom can be sterilized for violations of the population control programs — especially given the unique biological nature of pregnancy and special reverence every civilization has accorded to child-rearing and parenthood in marriage.
2. In Amnesty Am. v. Town of W. Hartford, 361 F.3d 113 (2nd Cir. 2004) Judge Sotomayor wrote the opinion denying the Town of Hartford, Connecticut summary judgment in a case brought against it by pro-life protestors that were brutalized during an arrest by the town’s police. Sotomayor noted in the decision that the protestor’s legal counsel had acted in a manner that severely prejudiced his client – yet despite this incompetency she recognized the right of the protestor’s to have their claim’s heard by a jury.
I find this conclusion interesting from an activist judge who could have easily and justifiably squashed a long and drawn out pro-life legal battle, yet chose to allow it to continue.
May 26th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Agree with McCain. CNN and Fox are trying to build the “fight” over Sotomayor into a big controversy. It’s not. The right does not have the votes or power to make any difference at all in Obama’s Supreme Court choices at this point. The only hope is to have the conservatives on the court outlive Obama’s term.
Also, I believe that Obama would not nominate a pro-life justice, and that he checked that out before he nominated Sotomayor.
May 26th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
of course she will be easily confirmed. she is however the most liberal of his list of potential nominees. she is to the left of souter.
my concern is that once she becomes a justice she is The One’s standard bearer for what one ‘looks’ like and he will consequently fill future seats with judges like her or even more liberal. also the ramifications for packing the lower courts with judges like her is also alarming to the conservative like me.
i am hoping that the republicans at least mount a noble fight. i look forward to watching jeff sessions with her.
May 26th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Easily confirmed?? Only if the Democrats have any backbone left to stand up to the GOP.
It’s about time the courts took a turn to the left. They’ve been so far to the right, they’ve been on Mars or further.
We need judges that will uphold the Laws of the Land and that includes abortion rights. There are only two sides to this issue, the Pro-Choice and the Anti-Choice. As long as women get pregnant there WILL BE abortions. Do we want our women, daughters, sisters, wives, etc. to have to go to some back alley butcher or other alternatives, like our grandparents or do we want to keep abortions SAFE and LEGAL. I prefer the latter. SAFE and LEGAL. Stop women from getting pregnant and you stop abortions…but that’s no solution. SAFE and LEGAL or back alley butchers, those are the choices.
May 26th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Angel.
Its not about abortion.
Its about the properties this woman will use to come to all decisions.
Can you guys ever discuss the SCOTUS without bringing up abortion ?
Jeez.
I’m a lot more worried about how she will rule on matters effecting the economy and our national security.
Shes just one liberal replacing another.
Dont worry, your right to screw around without consequences wont be taken away from you
May 26th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Angel Says:
May 26th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
“Do we want our women, daughters, sisters, wives, etc. to have to go to some back alley butcher or other alternatives, like our grandparents. . .”
Dear Angel . . . if your grandparents had those abortions that you say they did, you wouldn’t have existed to write that comment.
My grandmother wanted a back alley abortion, but it wasn’t available at the time because the local doctor who’d performed them had just been arrested. So, she was unable to abort my father. I may be thankful that I’m alive because abortion was illegal in 1959, but do you know who was the most thankful in the end? The person who was the most thankful was my grandmother, who as she lay dying just recently, with her one son and one grandson beside her, thanked God over and over again for her “beautiful family.”
May 26th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
“Stop women from getting pregnant and you stop abortions…but that’s no solution”
actually … that would be
no more sex for you
May 26th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
No sex works.. really? Did Sarah Palin’s preaching abstinence to her daughter Bristol work? I think not. So until the human population somehow loses the natural urge to have sex… well then there will be abortions. Her stance on abortion is not the only thing you should be looking at. Stop acting like it’s GOP against Democrats. Not all are liberal and not all are pro choice. Take a look through reality glasses and not religious ones.
May 26th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
actually what i wrote was, “no more sex for you”
i did not preach that you not have sex
May 26th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
My sincere apologies to Angel.
Theres so many blogs on this topic today I forgot which one I was at. As the title of the post clearly refers to abortion I guess I should say that most of what I said still applies though your reference to abortion was not as non-peripheral as I made it out to be.
Angel;
“Stop women from getting pregnant and you stop abortions…but that’s no solution. SAFE and LEGAL or back alley butchers, those are the choices.”
Gee, I guess adoption or actaully taking responsibilty and raising the kid are not choices ?
I’ve lost two kids to abortion. I was decieved by the mother. (long story)
I wonder if moms who already have kids get abortions as readily as women who’ve never had a child ?
May 26th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Abortion is intrinsically evil. For the sake of convenience, the avoidance of embarrassment, or the result of failed birth control, there is something wrong with a member of a species that would so cavalierly destroy their young.
But you’re right, Stella, “her stance on abortion is NOT the only thing” to consider. She has demonstrated herself to be a rac*st in the New Haven firefighter case and in several speeches. She might be a brilliant rac*st, but she’s a rac*st nonetheless.
May 26th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Stella;
” So until the human population somehow loses the natural urge to have sex… well then there will be abortions.”
or more people ?
Stellas another one who seems to think that keeping the kid is out of the question.
Bristol kept her kid. Thats the difference.
“. Take a look through reality glasses and not religious ones.”
nah, I just thought it was really cool to be alive regardless of God.
I was dead once. Death is over rated. After I was resuscitated and came back to life I was having way more fun.
May 26th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Mighty Aphrodite, to use your words. A God who “cavalierly destroys” his own unborn is the one who is “intrinsically evil”. Approximately forty-percent of all pregnancies end in “spontaneous abortion”. God believes in abortion. He performs them daily.
May 26th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
that assumes God controls everything. she does not … she could … but she allows free will and random events and such. otherwise it is work work work all the time work.
May 27th, 2009 at 1:53 am
“SAFE and LEGAL or back alley butchers, those are the choices.”
Wow, Angel, you sure bought that whole CRAP, didn’t you??
Do you actually think prolifers are in favor of any kind of abortion?? THINK AGAIN. Only use your brains next time, not your vagina.
May 27th, 2009 at 2:05 am
“Mighty Aphrodite, to use your words. A God who “cavalierly destroys” his own unborn is the one who is “intrinsically evil”. Approximately forty-percent of all pregnancies end in “spontaneous abortion”. God believes in abortion. He performs them daily.”
Cassandra~
I believe miscarriages are a truly sad occurrence. A friend of mine went through several before successfully carrying a baby to term.
However, I would have to disagree with you. God is NOT pro-abortion. God is God. He alone can give and take away life if he so chooses.
The Abortionist isn’t God, though many would love to think that they are. No woman walking on the face of this earth is God, though I know many women have aspired to be Him at one time or another.
Neither the woman nor her Abortionist CAN ever hope to create life on their own FROM SCRATCH or knit/form a baby in her/a woman’s womb. (I’m not talking about sex, again, just to be clear.)
So stop playing God by stating that he believes in something that he specifically abhors. The shedding of innocent blood, abortion, is an abomination.
May 27th, 2009 at 5:03 am
I have three boys and I love them, but I support a woman’s right to choose and here is why:
1) I have seen young women in poverty have babies and suffer.
2) I have seen young woman have children that they murder and abuse because they don’t want them.
3) I have seen the hopelessness on the face of young women who can’t support there children due to lack of education, support and assistance.
I chose to have my boys and every day I find joy in them, but everyday at my job I see women who HATE their children and put them in foster care and walk away. I see broken children and torn lives.
May 27th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Dear Life is Beautiful,
It’s only through a little sacrifice that we discover the really beautiful things in life.
Unexpected pregnancy leads to unexpected possibilities look at Obama.
thanks for haring
,
May 27th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Tee, why didn’t you stop all those suffering, helpless women you know from murdering and abusing their children?
May 27th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Blacks comprise about 18% of the population and have 31% of the abortions. If the Feds want to include abortions in M’Caid benefits that’s one tax I can happily pay.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:28 am
Could someone erase Hondo’s last comment.. That strand was disgusting and a deplorable comment.
May 28th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Lisab, check your facts. Your imaginary God is definitely in charge of everything. Nothing happens without his permission. Our free will has nothing to do with what he does. So I ask again, why does he perform spontaneous abortions on forty-percent of all pregnancies? Answer; he’s O.K. with it.
In answer to your sexuality dilemma. God is absolutely “man”. He condemns homosexuality but never condemns lesbianism. Find me any scripture that says girl on girl sex is wrong. Waiting.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:05 am
I’d say there is a good chance she is Pro-Life. She is Catholic. Maybe we can really get serious now about overturning Roe v. Wade. Especially when she starts talking legal academics with Scalia and Thomas (both minorities).
May 29th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Overturn Roe v. Wade and all you will get is more unwanted kids. Then fifteen years from now, when they learn how to hold your precious guns, the crime rate can go back up. You need to read “Freakonomics”. Besides, do you really think the rich in this country will ever stop having abortions? The poor can’t fly off to another country and have it done, but the rich will. What are we left with? More poor people on government assistance, and we know how much the right loves to pay those people. I’m telling you people, read your bible. God is O.K. with killing people; he does it all the time.
Still waiting on the scriptures condemning lesbianism. Where can I find those?