Sotomayor is in...but a whole lotta others are still cooling their heels

[thatcrazycajun]

This afternoon, the U.S. Senate voted 68-31 to confirm federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic and third female to serve as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. She will be sworn in and seated when the court begins its new term on the first Monday in October.

But as FireDogLake.com's Christy Hardin Smith notes here, Sotomayor's is the current administration's only nomination to the federal judiciary to have been acted on as Congress heads home for the August recess. At least 17 other nominees for various positions have been cleared by the Judiciary Committee for votes by the full Senate, but are still waiting thanks to what Smith rightly calls "a big fat failure of leadership."

With a filibuster-proof majority for all practical purposes, Harry Reid and his Judiciary Democrat colleagues have abso-frigging-lutely no excuse for not getting these people confirmed already. The rule of law took a beating under the previous régime; it needs to be reestablished tout suite.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

You're utterly correct in almost every particular.

The only place you're in error is that the expression is "tout de suite" :-)

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's said that way in France, but in Cajun country we don't bother with the "de." And in any case, it seems I'm wrong in thinking the new justice is to take her oath at term's opening; her swearing in is now reported to be tomorrow.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Probably so she can have her arm twisted by the President to prevent the distribution of the pictures that would incriminate Bushco. It would be such a shame if public opinion forced him to actually take, you know, action against those criminals. :-(

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

*nods* the rule of law will NOT be established under *this* regime, either; I suspected as much before the election even happened when Obama flip-flopped on FISA. Bastard. Fucking politician. (Tell us how you really feel? Nope, I'll be all night, and my blood pressure doesn't need it.)

I don't know how to fix this. At least, not bloodlessly. It's *theoretically* possible, see also Vaclav Havel. But it's a tougher nut than I know how to crack, when both sides of the aisle make Louisiana politics look open and above-board.