This morning I received an email from President Obama endorsing Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the position of Supreme Court Justice. In the letter he claims to advise me “about the qualifications and character that informed [his] decision to nominate Judge Sotomayor.”

About qualifications, there is a short paragraph composed of a non-descript list. It is quite subjective and is worded to give you the impression that she has practiced law since birth and “has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the last 100 years.” As I said – quite subjective. He might as well said “a bazillion years.”

Obama gives the impression she is impartial and has been successful in her career. No mention that her rulings have been overturned 80% at the Supreme Court level – the very bench she is nominated to sit on. There is no mention of her latest disaster, the reverse discrimination case involving California firefighters, Ricci v. DeStefano, in which the Supreme Court overturned her decision even while she is awaiting confirmation for her seat! No mention that she claims she originally thought the intent of Roe v Wade was to rid our nation of undesirables (minorities other than her own) and that she agrees with that intent (although she now understands that is not the intent – officially). The fact is, even commentators and colleagues on the left claim she is not very smart – just passionate and she is a bully in her courtroom.

The rest of the letter, the bulk of the letter, describes her experiences – growing up amidst adversity and how she will use these experiences to render fair rulings. In other words, you have to be a minority to understand oppression and  the law in itself cannot be fair and must be tempered by experience and passion. I envision the Ginsburg/Sotomayor duo scheming exceptions to law to accomplish predetermined outcomes – moving us away from a scriptural, moral and legal basis, to an anti-American, international version of justice.

Obama could have chosen a better judge – no matter where you sit. I think, though she is bad for the right, she will be worse for the left. I don’t beleive the American people will remain asleep forever.

FYI —————————– letter text below —————————————-

Good Morning,

Yesterday, Judge Sonia Sotomayor made her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee and moved another step closer to taking a seat on the United States Supreme Court. In case you missed it, watch the video of her opening statement here:

As President, there are few responsibilities more serious or consequential than the naming of a Supreme Court Justice, so I want to take this opportunity to tell you about the qualifications and character that informed my decision to nominate Judge Sotomayor.

Judge Sotomayor’s brilliant legal mind is complemented by the practical lessons that can only be learned by applying the law to real world situations.

In the coming days, the hearings will cover an incredible body of work from a judge who has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the last 100 years. Judge Sotomayor’s professional background spans our judicial system — from her time as a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator, to her work as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

And then there is Judge Sotomayor’s incredible personal story. She grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx — her parents coming to New York from Puerto Rico during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she lost her father, and her mother worked six days a week just to put food on the table. It takes a certain resilience and determination to rise up out of such circumstances, focus, work hard and achieve the American dream.

This character shined through in yesterday’s opening statement: Watch the video.

In Judge Sotomayor, our nation will have a Justice who will never forget her humble beginnings, will always apply the rule of law, and will be a protector of the Constitution that made her American dream and the dreams of millions of others possible. As she said so clearly yesterday, Judge Sotomayor’s decisions on the bench “have been made not to serve the interests of any one litigant, but always to serve the larger interest of impartial justice.”

In anticipation of today’s first round of questioning, I hope you’ll share this email widely, because Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation is something that affects every American. It’s important for these hearings to be about Judge Sotomayor’s own record and her capacity for the job — not any political back and forth that some in Washington may use to distract you. What members of the Judiciary Committee, and the American people, will see today is a sharp and fearless jurist who does not let powerful interests bully her into breaking from the rule of law.

Thank you,
Barack Obama