White House, Schumer Misleading Public and Media Over Sotomayor Liberal Activism—Vetting Process Failed
May 28, 2009Statement by Wendy Long, Chief Counsel, Judicial Confirmation Network:"Comments yesterday by the White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, and today by Senator Chuck Schumer, that statements made at Duke University by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in which she said appellate courts should 'make policy' were taken out of context are purposely misleading and outright misinformation designed to walk back an obvious vetting problem this White House has become known for. If Mr. Gibbs or Senator Schumer were to read other law review articles written by Judge Sotomayor, her own published word, it is clear and unequivocal that Judge Sotomayor has a long track record of advocating for using courts to make policy and laws. It is obvious that the reason the White House has churned up its spin machine on this is because countless polls consistently show that the American people to do not support judges making policy or law from the bench. The American people have spoken loudly and often on this subject, they want judges who interpret law as made through the people and their elected representatives, not through judges imposing their personal political views from the bench as Judge Sotomayor has consistently advocated."New JCN Video here: www.judicialnetwork.comLink to polling by Rasmussen:http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/supreme_court_ratings/supreme_court_update"Sixty-three percent (63%) of all voters continue to say the justices should base their rulings on what is written in the Constitution.Thirty percent (30%) say they should be guided by perceptions of fairness and justice."From Suffolk Law Review Article:"The public expects the law to be static and predictable. The law,however, is uncertain and responds to changing circumstances.""[C]hange--sometimes radical change--can and does occur in a legalsystem that serves a society whose social policy itself changes. It isour responsibility to explain to the public how an often unpredictablesystem of justice is one that serves a productive, civilized, butalways evolving, society.""[L]aws are written generally and then applied to different factualsituations. The facts of any given case may not be within thecontemplation of the original law.""BUT THE LAW DOES EVOLVE and to assist its evolution and at the sametime maintain their own credibility, lawyers must dispel the view thatthey are dishonest, dissembling, hypocritical, or that Ben Franklin'sdescription is correctly derisive.""[Jerome] Frank believed that in the complex, fast-paced modern era,lawyers do themselves a disservice by acceding to the public myth thatlaw can be certain and stable."
