Judge Sotomayor has had 3 decisions reversed by the Supreme Court

[Bucky]

Bear in mind, we're talking about the Rehnquist Court. Out of 380 decisions she's issued from the bench, exactly 3 have been reversed on appeal. Less than one percent. Appeals against her decisions have only been accepted to be heard six times and three of those times she's been upheld by the higher court.

(on edit: apparently SCOTUS reverses about 75% of the time on the cases it hears)

Please check in to this thread if you have a less than 99% success rate on your job.

[BuyingThyme]

1. I don't know how to interpret those numbers.

But let's just say I'm perfect.

[cagesoulman]

2. Considering the current SC, being overturned might be a badge of honor.

And yeah, I'm not 99% at my job but I do pretty well.

[Lex]

13. that's what I'm thinking too

nt

[babylonsister]

3. Wow. But according to Turley, she's mediocre. That sounds

pretty fine to me!

[Cha]

18. turley's in permanent anti-

anything President Obama..and now I read he backtracked on Judge Sotomayor a wee bit, last night, on KO's.

[pkdu]

4. I love those numbers ....but whats even better is..

how many of Scalia , Thomas ( Scalia-mini.me) , Roberts , Alito opinions even made it to the SC to BE challenged?

[BlooInBloo]

5. More details at Kos....

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/26/735716/-The-Truth-About-Sonia-Sotomayors-Reversal-Rate

"Diamond legend Ted Williams once said that hitting a baseball "carries with it the continuing frustration of knowing that even if you are a .300 hitter... you are going to fail at your job seven out of ten times." The same, apparently, is true for Supreme Court appellees. Over each of the last several terms, the high court has reversed 75% of the cases that have come before it.

That number might seem high, but it makes perfect sense. The Supreme Court, unlike the federal circuit courts of appeal, can choose which cases it wants to hear (a perogative called certiorari). The Supremes select just a handful of matters (maybe 1-2% out of thousands) each year, and they generally pick rulings they'd like to overturn. After all, if they're happy with an appeals court decision, why spend more time on it if they'd only uphold it?

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, though, seems to have something in common with Teddy Ballgame - her average was well above average. Indeed, Sotomayor's decisions were upheld far more frequently than the norm. Apparently, out of the 380-odd opinions she penned while on the Second Circuit, the Supreme Court granted cert on just six. And of those six, Sotomayor was reversed on only three. That's a .500 batting average, a figure even Ted Williams would have to admire."

[Bucky]

6. Thank you. Just updated the stats to reflect your input

[elleng]

9. Such decisions were decisions of the court,

ordinarily 3-judge panels. They collectively decide what to do, and one of them writes.

[joeybee12]

This article, like most things at kos, is BS...

...the common perception is that the Supreme Court takes cases they are likely to overturn, but that simply isn't true. Often they take a case because they agree with the ruling and they believe that it contains an important legal point they should address.

[elleng]

7. 'Her' decisions?

Could use more info on this. She was a trial court judge some years ago, and since then has been on Court of Appeals, which makes few if any single-judge decisions.

[rucky]

8. (not checking in)

[Bucky]

10. I take your word for it, but I remind you farting downwind isn't an actual job performance metric

[rucky]

11. Fine, pick the one thing I do well and disqualify it.

[Junkdrawer]

12. So...Agreeig with the Rehnquist Court 100% would be a perfect score?

:shrug:

[Lex]

14. bingo

nt

[tekisui]

15. Producing solid legal arguments that cannot be reversed is

the objective. Every judge wants to issue an opinion so airtight that it is the final word, and she seems to have a very good track record in that regard.

Even Rehnquist cannot reverse what ever he wants on a whim.

[Junkdrawer]

16. The Rehnquist Court gave us Bush v. Gore....

Reversing "airtight reasoning" didn't seem to be much of a problem...

[Bucky]

17. Bill Rehnquist is a bit beyond the "whim" stage of life

He's more into that "pull the drapes shut; I don't want them to see I'm still alive" stage.