Yesterday legal scholar Gerry Bradley jump-started APP's "Sotomayor Central" with an article titled "Empathy".

Today he follows-up with a second article titled "What to ask Judge Sotomayor About Same-Sex Marriage":

As far as I know Sonya Sotomayor has not revealed, even by implication or strong suggestion, how she might rule on a constitutional claim for same-marriage. I know that she has not really tipped her hand on abortion, either.  But I think that the President’s conspicuous, and strong, pro-choice views support the inference that Sotomayor will support abortion rights, perhaps even avidly.  Obama has promised and can be expected to deliver that much to his backers.

    On the other huge moral issue of our day – same-sex marriage – things are not so clear. For one thing, the President’s own views are more subtle and, perhaps, more confused, than they are on abortion. President Obama says that he favors civil unions but that he opposes same-sex marriage. He never criticizes, however, any decision – such as those recently in New Hampshire and Iowa – which legalizes same-sex marriage. He is going slow on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell) policy.  His Justice Department is defending DOMA in California litigation, even as the President told gay supporters last week that he wants to repeal that law. And the President has made no promises about his nominee on this issue.     What information should our Senators seek from Sotomayor about her intentions regarding same-sex marriage? [Read on...]

Gerard V. Bradley is professor of law at the University of Notre Dame School of Law.

This morning, as the Sotomayor hearings begin, Legal scholar Gerry Bradley jump-starts APP's "Sotomayor Central" with an article titled "Empathy":

Today’s first round of hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will be a bit tedious.  Much of the day will be taken up with the Senators’ opening statements.   These will probably include some real insights and lessons.  But, unfortunately, these gems will be obscured by the usual ration of senatorial bloviating and preening.  Then we should expect Judge Sotomayor to deliver her opening statement.  This is her chance to tell her “story”.  Sotomayor is no bloviator, and her “story” is indeed remarkable, even compelling.  The tedium here will owe to repetition, for even the details of her life and learning and work have been rehearsed many times in the media.  See, just for example, the extensive profile of Sotomayor in last Friday’s New York Times. 

I shall nonetheless receive Sotmayor’s story with, well, great empathy.  As the immortal Yogi Berra would say, it will be “like deja vu, all over again”.  That is because (yes), I have by now read about Sotmayor’s life several times.  But it will also be because the main outlines of her story are mine too. [Read on...]

Gerard V. Bradley is professor of law at the University of Notre Dame School of Law.