Barack Obama named his nominee to replace Justice David Souter on the United States Supreme Court today: Sonia Sotomayor, a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge in New York.
Sotomayor was appointed to the Federal District Court of Manhattan by the first President Bush and then promoted to the Court of Appeals by Clinton, leading Obama to praise her as a non-partisan nominee.
She studied at Princeton before attending Yale Law school. She is a first generation American who grew up in the Bronx, the daughter of a factory worker: seemingly the embodiment of the American Dream.
If appointed she will be the first Latino ever to serve on the nation’s highest court, and the one of two woman on the current Court. The website SCOTUSBLOG offers an in-depth run-down of her record.
Despite being labeled an “activist” by conservatives, Sotomayor is a fairly vanilla nominee. She hasn’t issued too many major decisions on the hot button political issues: abortion, marriage equality, the death penalty or national security. The above link to SCOTUSBLOG offers insight into several of her decisions.
Sotomayor has made one ruling that calls her green credentials into question. She ruled that the EPA does not have authority to carry out cost-benefit analysis to determine the best technology for cooling-water intake at power plants, a process which adversely affects aquatic life. The decision was later overturned by the US Supreme Court, 6-3. A detailed description is provided on the SCOTUSBLOG post.
The Republican response to this nomination will be very interesting to watch. Since the elections last fall, the G.O.P. has been split on whether to continue to satisfy its conservative base–the cost of that strategy being Democratic domination of Washington–or to appeal to a wider, more mainstream audience.
Latinos are the fastest growing group of voters, and opposing Sotomayor could be seen as a slight by undecided Latino voters. Important voices within the G.O.P. have already come out on both sides of the issue: some are calling Sotomayor a liberal activist and preparing for ideological warfare, while others feel that there are bigger battles to be won.
Something else to watch will be the case Sotomayor ruled on which will soon go in front of the Supreme Court. The case was brought against New Haven, Connecticut by white firefighters who felt they were the victims of reverse racism when the results of a promotional exam were invalidated because no black firefighter passed.
The three judge panel Sotomayor sat on said it was not unsympathetic to the firefighters, but that their case had no legal standing. If the Supreme Court disagrees it may look bad for Sotomayor in the public eye, giving conservatives ammunition to oppose her nomination.
This is the type of person we need in office - someone who is level headed. One ruling doesn’t make her unconcerned about the environment…but you’re right, it does put it in question.
Annette Collins
June 3, 2009 10am EDT
We have all been wrongly passed injustices thoughout our political system, but it is a very large concern of mine that most politiian seem to continue to be comfortable stepping into power with a personal agenda to pass laws that benefit their own nationalies, sexualities, economic status,or minor personal briefs that are then blown up just because, and to hell with what is right equal justice for all as a appointing law for the right of the people. As the first latino woman in a supreme court seat, I’m torn about it mexican have already come to this country illegally or otherize and have equalize themselves with the white american vote, but black america is voted down on most laws except free food lines, sorry until I’ve seen an equality passed for all people as I’ve seen for gays and the mexicans votes I’m torn and not empressed, but happy for her as far her educational qualifications & skills that qualify her a part of a power board. For the record as an american I’m not for one person decisions on what can go on the tables for a law to pass something.
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Ted is always looking for ways to minimize his ecological footprint. Professionally, Ted is working to gain the skills necessary to turn his passion for sustainable development into action, as an entrepreneur or financing sustainable businesses.
Ted studied economics and international business at Saint Louis University’s campus in Madrid, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and was honored as the Distinguished Student in International Business for his class. As the founder and president of the SLU Madrid Business Club, Ted focused the club’s activities on sustainability.
While working for commercial real estate multi-national Jones Lang LaSalle’s Madrid office, Ted strove to implement sustainable practices both within the firm and for its clients. He proposed and designed an Environmental Sustainability Action Plan for JLL Spain. Green Building and Environmentally Sustainable Development remain a passion for Ted: he believes that the intersection of sustainable infrastructure and sustainable attitude is where we’ll find a sustainable society.
Ted currently works for a private equity firm in Madrid, learning skills that he hopes to apply to finance Environmentally Sustainable Development in the United States and around the world.
Tracy is the CEO and Founding Partner of Technical Green - a green industry career site focused on clean tech and green research and development.
Tracy's professional experience are in the recruitment advertising and non-profit sectors and she has for many years maintained a sustainable lifestyle.
Marie Oser is a best-selling author, columnist, and host/producer of VEG TV. A vegan lifestyle expert, and environmental advocate with a focus on nutrition and its role in disease prevention, Oser specializes in creating original gourmet recipes with a solid nutritional bottom line.
Many prominent medical and nutrition professionals endorse her work, including Dr. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University and principal researcher of the groundbreaking CHINA STUDY, and Neal Barnard, M.D. founder and president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC.
Marie is president of VEGTV, Inc., a video production company producing content for TV and new media. VEGTV streams hundreds of lifestyle videos to more than 1,000 sites globally. In her role as Director of Product Development at Smart Planet Kitchen, she has created, Marie Oser’s Lean & Green, a new line of vegan and Fair Trade Certified products. Marie has appeared on CNN, ABC, National Public Radio, QVC, WUSA, WNBC, KCAL, KOVR, Home & Garden Television (HGTV), FINE LIVING, TECH TV, and Discovery Channel.
Vegetarian since 1971; vegan since 1990, Marie left a career in TV advertising to pursue her interest in food, health, and nutrition. Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, she studied psychology at St. Joseph’s University. Marie is a gourmet cook and organic gardener living in California, writing her 5th book and hiking every day with Travis, her Yellow Lab companion.
Cherl Petso is the Associate Editor at Disaboom.com, an online magazine for people with disabilities. Her writing expertise includes articles about the environment and sustainable living, and vegan/vegetarian issues. A vegetarian for 16 years and a recent vegan, Cherl is passionate about animal rights and issues. She enjoys writing about simple ways to lessen the impact on the Earth.
Cherl recently moved to Denver, Colorado from Bellingham, Washington. She enjoys hiking and hanging out with her puppy.
Nathanial Manning works for the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) as a Regional Analyst for Asia. He focuses on two programs for CCI, the Green Building Retrofit program and the Waste Management program. Nathaniel recently graduated from Brown University as an Environmental Studies Masters student, specializing in sustainable design and international carbon policy. Nat also completed a Bachelor of Arts in World Religions at Brown, focusing on the philosophy of ethics and the intersection between religion and politics. He is completing his Masters thesis on clean-technology-transfer within the UN's carbon credit mechanism (the CDM), which allows developed countries to invest in carbon mitigating technologies in developing countries with the purpose of promoting sustainable development.
Nathaniel has a long history of involvement in environmental development work ranging from waste-to-energy entrepreneurial ventures to designing sustainable homes for the Guatemalan chapter of Habitat for Humanity, to working for a tidal energy engineering firm in Singapore. Nat's passion is in how intelligent innovative solutions and technologies can be applied to create a sustainable and free world. When Nat thinks of the word "green" he does not just think of the word "environment" but how we as humans can design systems and solutions that create win-win situations.
Robert Cowin is a political consultant for environmental NGOs. His nomadic childhood reveals a world-class carpetbagger, but he masks as a Texan-New Yorker hybrid. Formerly with the National Environmental Trust (now the Pew Environment Group) in DC, he’s spent time on Capital Hill advocating for Kyoto ratification, clean air, renewable energy technology, and green energy policy.
Robert has also worked on marine conservation issues, directing the Conserve Our Ocean Legacy coalition in the Mid-Atlantic States which successfully worked to help strengthen and reauthorize the Magnuson Steven’s Act. He now happily lives in Southern California, flying back east often as he finishes his Masters in International Relations at Tufts University’s Fletcher School.
Dayanti Karunaratne is a freelance journalist based in Canada's capital city, Ottawa.
Since graduating from Carleton University's journalism program in 2006, Karunaratne has worked on the news desk at the Port Hope Evening Guide, the Ottawa Citizen, and the Molokai Times. Karunaratne's writing appears in the Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Magazine, the Globe and Mail, and other lifestyle publications.
Heather O'Neill is the founder of Eco to the People, a green living blog.
Before founding Eco to the People, Heather O’Neill wore so many hats in the field of journalism that even the Queen Mother would envy her collection. She has worked as the managing editor of a beauty trade magazine; as a copy editor for an online tech magazine; as the associate editor of a city magazine and as a newspaper reporter and columnist, and as the senior editor at the popular online newsletter ecofabulous.
Her work has appeared in many publications, including Parenting, Alternative Medicine, Natural Solutions, Marin Magazine, Greenwich Magazine and HOME.
Heather earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from California College of the Arts. She lives and works in San Francisco.
This is the type of person we need in office - someone who is level headed. One ruling doesn’t make her unconcerned about the environment…but you’re right, it does put it in question.
We have all been wrongly passed injustices thoughout our political system, but it is a very large concern of mine that most politiian seem to continue to be comfortable stepping into power with a personal agenda to pass laws that benefit their own nationalies, sexualities, economic status,or minor personal briefs that are then blown up just because, and to hell with what is right equal justice for all as a appointing law for the right of the people. As the first latino woman in a supreme court seat, I’m torn about it mexican have already come to this country illegally or otherize and have equalize themselves with the white american vote, but black america is voted down on most laws except free food lines, sorry until I’ve seen an equality passed for all people as I’ve seen for gays and the mexicans votes I’m torn and not empressed, but happy for her as far her educational qualifications & skills that qualify her a part of a power board. For the record as an american I’m not for one person decisions on what can go on the tables for a law to pass something.