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- Sotomayor roundup: The early libertarian reaction paints her as a "radical" practitioner of "identity politics," a judicial activist who will take away your guns; the Judicial Confirmation Network and Family Research Council call her a "discriminatory activist" and a "legislator"; Kevin Drum thinks Obama is shrewdly goading the GOP into going into conniptions over the nomination; the GOP talking points leak; Sotomayor's views on executive power are an unknown; the SCOTUS Blog looks at the nominee's decision-making record; Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) loves him some conservative talking points; Sotomayor's confirmation vote back in 1998 suggests a filibuster attempt is unlikely to get off the ground; and her comments that the Appeals Court is "where policy is made" and her thoughts on the judicial decision-making of a "wise Latina woman" aren't all that controversial.
- Proposition 8 was upheld by the California Supreme Court today in a 6-1 decision, although the court also ruled that same-sex marriages performed prior to the constitutional amendment will not be invalidated.
- There are many contenders for the most worthless member of the Senate Democratic caucus, but our pal Ben Nelson (D-ConAgra) has really been on a roll lately. In addition to leaving open the possibility of joining a filibuster against Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee (made prior to today's announcement), Nelson has generally been indistinguishable from any number of the more conservative members of the Republican caucus.
- Russ Feingold sent a letter to President Obama late Friday describing his plans to hold hearings on the President's policy for detainees and retaining military commissions, which is undoubtedly the right step. After all, if you believe in checks and balances -- the president himself has repeatedly referred to "co-equal" branches of government -- then we ought to expect executive overreach to be constrained not by well-meaning presidents but by Congress and the courts, and that's the way it ought to be.
- Lest it be forgotten over the holiday, the RNC released a bizarre video (still on their web site!) that compares House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Bond girl Pussy Galore from 1964's Goldfinger. Given the incoherence of the spot, I'm going to guess that this was an ill-conceived attempt to project conservative misogyny on the public at large.
- Weekend Remainders: Homeland Security and National Security Council staff merge; David Petraeus supports closing Gitmo; either book sales or fear of prosecution are motivating Dick Cheney's publicity tour; NASA gets a new administrator; Tom Coburn might not be retiring from the Senate; the GOP revival runs through Gitmo; the birthers plan on blowing $45,000+ on billboards no one will understand; and Red State thinks Jesus would be down with waterboarding.
--Mori Dinauer
