By Kimberly Atkins
The Daily Record Newswire
Now that we have closed the books on 2010, let’s take a look at the five Supreme Court moments that drew the most attention last year on Internet blogs.
5. Tribe: Sotomayor’s a ‘bully’ and ‘not nearly as smart as she thinks she is’
In October, a year-old letter written by Harvard Law School professor, Supreme Court litigator and presidential advisor Laurence Tribe was unearthed, sending tongues wagging in the legal community. In the letter, Tribe said some not-too-kind words about Sonia Sotomayor, who at the time was being considered by President Barack Obama to replace retiring Justice David Souter. Sotomayor got the gig, but Tribe clearly favored Elena Kagan, who was lavished with praise in Tribe’s letter to the president.
On Sotomayor, on the other hand, Tribe wrote:
“Bluntly put, she is not nearly as smart as she seems to think she is, and her reputation for being something of a bully could make her liberal impulses backfire and simply add to the fire power of the Roberts/Alito/ Scalia/Thomas wing of the Court on issues [like] voting rights and the Title VII case of the New Haven firefighters.”
4. In immigration debate, Sotomayor chooses words carefully
Sotomayor is not only the first Latina justice on the Court, but she is also the first justice to introduce the term “undocumented immigrant” into the Court’s vernacular. Not only did Sotomayor put the term — as opposed to the term “illegal immigrant” — in a written opinion for the first time in the Court’s history, she also made the very careful choice to use the term during oral arguments in Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting. She even corrected herself once when she found herself using the word “illegal.”
“You don’t disagree that Congress at least intended that if someone violated the federal law and hired illegal aliens of Hispanic — undocumented aliens and was found to have violated it, that the state can revoke their license, correct, to do business?” Sotomayor said.
3. Justice Alito’s head shake heard ‘round the Union
We probably won’t be seeing Justice Samuel Alito at the State of the Union address later this month.
Alito made headlines almost a year ago when he visibly took issue with President Obama’s characterization of the Court’s opinion in Citizens United v. FEC. Alito grimaced, shook his head and mouthed the words “not true” — a move that drew attention to the growing conflict some justices feel about being present at such a politically-charged event.
2. Justice Thomas’ wife’s group spurs media buzz, conflict concerns
One of the most popular subjects on the blogs was not a Supreme Court justice, but the wife of one: Virginia “Ginni” Thomas. She caused a flurry of media coverage when she left Anita Hill a message seeking an apology on her husband’s behalf. But on DC Dicta, it was her political organization, Liberty Central, that generated the most interest — particularly given the potential for conflict between Mrs. Thomas’ political activities and Justice Thomas’ job.
While Mrs. Thomas’ participation in the group violates no ethical rules, political and legal watchers said the potential for conflict does exist.
“There is opportunity for mischief if a company with a case before the Court, or which it wants the Court to accept, makes a substantial contribution to Liberty Central in the interim,” New York University law professor Stephen Gillers, an expert on legal ethics, told the Los Angeles Times.
After the controversies, Thomas announced she was stepping down from the helm of the group.
1. Technical difficulties at the Supreme Court
A blog post recounting some of the justices’ comments and questions generated more than 47,000 unique page views. It happened after oral arguments in the case City of Ontario v. Quon, during which several justices of the U.S. Supreme Court expressed a lack of technological savvy when it comes to things like cell phones and text messaging.
