Comments for Kellia's World - Recommended Reading

Comment on Weasel or Injured Party? by Skyagunsta

Skyagunsta — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:10:33 +0000

How very sad that politicians who know better, on any subject, just don’t bother to be honest simply because it is expedient, or because it suits their political purpose. This is exactly the same thing that they are doing with their claim of healthcare reform.

Comment on Weasel or Injured Party? by Professor Jeffrey A. Van Detta

Professor Jeffrey A. Van Detta — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:37:09 +0000

I’m saddened to learn the blog won’t continue. You provided very valuable information on Mr. Ricci’s testimony, for which I’d wanted to cite your blog in my article! Your dissection of important parts of his testimony is most helpful.

Of course, all the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, whether personally,or by virtue of their staff, know how the Ricci panel worked. Neither side bothered to clarify it, assuming most people wouldn’t have the patience to listen or care enough to want to know how an appeals court really works. The fact that they all knew this, and pretended it doesn’t exist, makes it all the more egregious, on both sides of the aisle.

Comment on Weasel or Injured Party? by Skyagunsta

Skyagunsta — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:34:01 +0000

Thank you for your illuminating post. Too bad it comes after the Republicans bad mouthed Sotomayor all they wanted.
Too bad, it too, comes when this blog will cease as of October 1st. Nevertheless, I do appreciate the wisdom of your reply to my posting. Skyagunsta Pickens

Comment on Weasel or Injured Party? by Professor Jeffrey A. Van Detta

Professor Jeffrey A. Van Detta — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:36:08 +0000

This posting sadly perpetuates a myth and misunderstanding that is fundamental to then-Judge, now Justice, Sotomayor’s role in the 2d Circuit’s opinion in Ricci. It is not HER opinion. It is the opinion of the THREE JUDGE panel on which she sat. And if you do a bit of digging (e.g., at any of the judicial biographies online), you’ll find that she not only was just one of THREE judges, she was the MOST JUNIOR judge on the panel — junior to Judges Pooler and Sack. And — most importantly — Sonia Sotomayor was NOT the PRESIDING JUDGE for the week of oral arguments in the case calendar on which Ricci appeared. The Presiding Judge was Rosemary Pooler. Why is that important? Well, as I can tell you from my own experience (1987-1988) as the judicial law clerk to one of the 2d Circuit Judges, it is the PRESIDING JUDGE who takes the lead in [a] suggesting opinions to be presented as summary orders and [b] WRITING the summary orders in his/her chambers. I’m confident that’s what happened here. It is a long, venerable tradition in the 2d Circuit. Believe me, many is the Friday afternoon after a week of argument where my judge presided that I was still at Foley Square, working furiously to get the summary orders from that week done and filed in the clerk’s office! Yes, of course, Judge Sotomayor, like Judge Sack, had to concur with Presiding Judge Pooler about [a] using the summary order format rather than a published opinion and [b] the content of the summary order that was drafted in the Ricci case. But to present this process as it has been presented here, and in most of the press, is to distort it beyond recognition and quite misleadingly suggest that Sonia Sotomayor was the quarterback or architect of something that she was in fact, only one of three participants, and not the leader of the pack, either. I will add that many, many cases are disposed of on summary orders in the 2d Circuit — and in this case, since the panel — wisely or not — decided it agreed with the District Judge’s decision, what point is there in rehashing that opinion just to put their names on it.

I will say, however, that the obscene brouhaha raised over this has illuminated something that I didn’t understand 22 years ago, but do now. In the well-known Yonkers desegregation cases brought by the U.S. Justice Dep’t in the 1980s, Distict Judge Leonard Sand wrote some of the most well-organized, and comprehensive opinions you’ll ever see — they are models. Thus, when the City appealed from his opinions and judgment, I was surprised that the panel on which my judge sat decided to re-hash the whole thing in a Circuit opinion that exceeded 150 pages in draft. Since Judge Sand’s ruling were being affirmed in their entirety, I did not understand why we were duplicating Judge Sand’s work. Now, I do. In cases that are–or become–hot political buttons, the Circuit has to go through the suffering, or face criticism on absurd grounds. I doff my hat to the Presiding Judge on that panel of two decades ago, Amalya Kearse. Judge Kearse made a great call in that case — and saved all of us plenty of grief as a result. (A Carter nominee, Judge Kearse was one of the finest and most professional legal minds I’ve ever seen — I loved to watch her preside over an argument — it was respectful, but pointedly regal. It is sad that Bill Clinton did not use one of his two opportunities to fill a Supreme Court vacancy to nominate Judge Kearse. A true opportunity lost.)

I elaborate some of these ideas further in a forthcoming (Vol. 13, Spring 2010) article in the Barry Law Review, “The Decline And Fall Of The American Judicial Opinion, Part II: Back To The Future From The Roberts Court To Learned Hand–-Segmentation, Audience, And The Opportunity Of Justice Sotomayor.”

Comment on National Guard drill at high school to prepare for possible H1N1 riot by Kellia

Kellia — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 04:43:13 +0000

I am trying not to be the type of journalist who gets on the swine flu hysteria bandwagon. I happen to be taking vitamin D anyway and live in Oakalnd, where it is often sunny even in the winter.

Comment on National Guard drill at high school to prepare for possible H1N1 riot by STOP THE VAX

STOP THE VAX — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:28:46 +0000

Vaccines are POISON. The only one[s] who benefit from vaccines are PHARMACEUTICALS. Lots of Vitamin D will protect you from the flu and many other diseases. DON’T be fooled by paid off media hype. STOP the sickening assault on humanity.

Comment on Weasel or Injured Party? by Skyagunsta

Skyagunsta — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:53:09 +0000

In the end, Sen. Lindsey Graham looked at the bricks his own colleagues on the Republican side stacked up against Sotomayor’s nomination. He looked at the bricks from the right angle and saw they did not hold up to the truth of Sotomayor’s career. He saw the republicans had no case agains Sotomayor. He voted in favor of her confirmation. He did the right thing. The rest of the Republicans on that committee, who, uttered bitter complaints against Sotomayor for what they said was her need to rule from personal politics and feelings, are the ones who made use fo their personal politics and feelings to vote against Sotomayor’s nomination. Their arguments did not hold water, did not a case against her make, it just simply did not pass the smell test. Thank you Lindsey Graham for looking at the bricks, stacked against Sotomayor, at the right angle.

Comment on Traded away for a make-believe economy, the real US economy is dead by RaketforskareFTW

RaketforskareFTW — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:48:41 +0000

Thank you, blogspammer!

Got any original content?

Comment on Traded away for a make-believe economy, the real US economy is dead by Panic Away -End Anxiety And Panic Attacks.

Panic Away -End Anxiety And Panic Attacks. — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:18:20 +0000

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Comment on Traded away for a make-believe economy, the real US economy is dead by Traded away for a make-believe economy, the real US economy is …

Traded away for a make-believe economy, the real US economy is … — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:46:31 +0000

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