Specter: Ricci Decision Shows Sotomayor Is Mainstream

[jefferson_dem]

Specter: Ricci Decision Shows Sotomayor Is Mainstream

Hmm, this one won’t make newly-minted Dem Arlen Specter any more friends on the right.

One of the looming tests of whether Specter’s party switch carried real benefits for Dems was how he’d handle the Sonia Sotomayor nomination. Well, now the Supreme Court has handed down its hotly-anticipated Ricci ruling, upholding 5-4 the white firefighters’ claim of discrimination by New Haven. Sotomayor originally ruled for New Haven.

And though Specter, a prominent Senate voice on judicial issues, has yet to commit to backing Sotomayor, he just blasted out a statement that will give aid and comfort to her allies:

“The 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court in Ricci v. DeStefano is a confirmation that the ruling could have gone either way and the Second Circuit judgment, including Judge Sotomayor’s, has plenty of company with the four dissenting Justices.”

By claiming that the ruling could have gone “either way” and that Sotomayor has “plenty of company,” Specter is basically arguing that despite what conservative critics say, the Ricci ruling shows she’s squarely in the judicial mainstream. So chalk another one up for team-playing-Dem Specter.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/specter-ricci-decision-shows-sotomayor-is-mainstream/

[Arkana]

1. Good.

Arlen doesn't need more friends on the right. He needs to make friends in his own damn party now.

[MADem]

2. Good boy, Alen!! Good boy!

He's apparently "gotten the spirit."

This is the deal he made, as a consequence of his backgound (and former status as "ranking") on the Judiciary Committee. He will play ball, and he'll do it "con brio!"

[SuperTrouper]

3. I agree. This is proof that the accusation by the right wing nuts that Sotomayor

legislates from the bench is pure garbage. Four Justices agree with Sotomayor and the five conservatives did not...she is in the mainstream, the decision was not 9-0 or even 8-1.