Sotomayor's Misplaced Compassion & Empathy

Even the least discerning & most uninvolved people among us most likely know about the $787 billion bailout known as the Stimulus Bill - the largest single spending increase since WW II that was voted in to law in just a matter of hours earlier this year, the $410 billion omnibus spending bill that will cover the regular discretionary functions of government through September 30 - the largest inflation adjusted discretionary increase since 1978 (except for the one relating to 9/11), the $50+ trillion unfunded liability of Social Security & Medicare, the nationalization of a large part of the auto industry, & a large government stake in 650 banks and other financial institutions across the country.

Now the problems with all of the above (& many more) are obvious but a more stealth problem to be addressed involves BO's nomination of a 54 year old woman named Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. BO has made it clear that he is looking for nominees who show compassion & empathy in their judicial decisions & this nominee's judicial decisions show plenty of both with much of it being misplaced.

The most egregious example is Sotomayor's appeals court ruling against 19 New Haven firefighters (17 whites & 2 Hispanics) who passed a city test in 2003 for promotion but were denied their promotions because no black firefighters passed. This decision denied these 19 firefighters (several of who gave up second jobs to study for the test) substantial pay increases that would have compounded over their lives & accordingly would have resulted in higher pensions.

The current Supreme Court is expected to rule on this case within weeks so they will effectively be critiquing Sotomayor's work on the lower court. Chief Justice John Roberts has suggested that New Haven threw out the test results because people of the wrong race passed. Roberts asked "Does the city get do overs until the result comes out right." The firefighters' attorney maintains that the city threw out the test results because elected officials were worried about losing black voters. Blacks make up 37% of the population of the city.

Now elections have consequences & one of these consequences of the last election is that someone like Sotomayor could be nominated by someone like BO to be confirmed by a Democrat controlled Senate so that she will sit on the Supreme Court for decades making the types of decisions described above until they become the standard - meaning there is no standard or rule of law @ all. Discouraging hard work, self improvement, self reliance, & strength & replacing them with weakness & government dependence is all part of BO's socialist vision of America.

Upon confirmation Sotomayor will take the oath to solemnly swear to administer justice without respect to persons & do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that she will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. BO's standard in selecting a nominee who will judge based on compassion & empathy as well as Sotomayor's ruling re the New Haven firefighters' case are @ direct odds with this oath.

Meanwhile totally forgotten while this judicial exercise of compassion & empathy for the weak has played out over the past six years are the portion of the 125,000 residents of New Haven who have experienced losses of life & property in fires or other emergencies in their homes, apartments, cars, etc. These people (like any of us when it comes to safety) paid their taxes in support of this 411 member fire & emergency response department with ten stations & a $22.5 million annual budget thinking that they had the services of the best emergency personnel possible instead of a politically correct re-election proof group who meets some diversity code.

The elected city officials & Sotomayor's appeals court panel have shown that they are first & foremost interested in preserving the jobs of the elites on the city council & that they could not care less about their constituents' safety unless someone notices what they are really doing. Sotomayor's appeals court decision is one of misplaced compassion & empathy - the type we will assuredly get more of after she is confirmed by the Democrat controlled Senate.