Tuesday, July 19, 2005

SCOTUS

I've been meaning to post a little bit about possible Latino candidates for the Supreme Court. The president said he would announce his nomination today so that kind of lit a fire under my ass. Bearing in mind if a Latino doesn't get nominated for O'Connor's position there is still Rehnquist's eminent retirement.
The Hispanic National Bar Association sent out a press release a couple weeks ago about potential candidates. Alberto "Stress Position" Gonzales has been getting a lot of attention, LULAC has actually been a pretty strong supporter. Personally I don't like the guy. I lived in Texas when he was on the court and he wasn't so hot. While Bush was governor, Gonzales ignored the rights of Mexicans on death row and was no friend of the struggling poor. There is also the question of his conduct as a judge. Texans for Public Justice have watched how judges have decided cases involving campaign contributors. Gonzales's record isn't not comforting. If you search TPJ's website you will find a bunch of similar stuff. What bugs me most about Gonzales is that I don't think he's that good of a lawyer. I read the torture memos and his analysis is just wrong. He used domestic law to interpret an international document. That's not how you do it.
Emilo Garza's name has bounced around. He's conservative and on the 5th Circuit but he seems fair and impartial. He also is smart enough to do the job. SCOTUS Blog has a little bit about him. They also have stuff on Gonzales if you're interested and here's an article that does a little comparison between the two.
Garza may be a little of a long shot and the rest of the people on the HNBA memo are even longer. Here's a little bit about Federico Moreno. The ABA has this on Sonia Sotomayor. I think she's my favorite. There's not a lot of info on Jose Alberto Cabranes, Julio Fuentes, Victor Marrero, or Carlos Moreno. I've been meaning to look up some cases they've decided and give you the low down but I guess I ran out of time. So if any actually reads this in the hour before the decision is made it might be helpful.

1 Comments:

Blogger Biff Loman said...

It's disheartening that the only presidents that can nominate minority candidates to the Court are Republicans. When Democrats try, they get painted as "Catering to their special interests," and all their choices get narowed as a consequence. Clinton, of course, got Ginsburg, but she was a notable exception. Like "Only Nixon could go to China," only Republicans can cater to Democratic special interests, and it sucks.

Instead of candidates that reflect the dominant ideology and sympathies of the minority groups that spawned them, blacks, women, hispanics, etc. get right-wing knock-offs that better represent and parrot the ideology of the conservative movement.

I, a black man, am more disheartened than empowered by Clarence Thomas's presence on the bench. As important as it would have been to have had a Latino nominee, I have to say not having one nominated by this president is a partial victory for the community.

4:12 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home