Court TV

SO I have been thinking more about public access to government and the judiciary. In a conference 2 years ago I watched a presentation about how day time tv court dramas have affected the common mans view of the courts. While it did help them understand they needed evidence or documentation it also gave them a false sense that minorities were represented in judgeships.

Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled on whether they should allow video of the Prop 8 fight in CA to be broadcast. In a 5-4 decision they ruled no. Justice Breyer dissented, joined by Justices Stevens, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor. I still would like to read the opinion to try and understand the logic more. I think it would be a good thing to have a more open conversation about Prop 8 and gay marriage. One where people can not hide behind bigotry but need to logically explain why they think it necessary to deprive rights from others.

Now with Twitter, facebook, blackberrys and all other social media we constantly stream, it does seem that there is a barricade in the courts. I used to think opening up courts would just turn courts into circuses but now I think it might help hold people liable for their actions/arguments.

A law student right now is doing something on his own vein. He is attempting to be the first person in line for all this term of the supreme court. (http://f11f.wordpress.com/) There is no denying social media is here, now I think the court just needs to keep up.

Graham is the bully

SEN. GRAHAM: .... And we got a long way to go in this country. And I can't find the quote, but I'll find it here in a moment, the "wise Latino" (sic/Latina) quote. (Pause.) Do you remember it? (Laughter.)

JUDGE SOTOMAYOR: Yes.

SEN. GRAHAM: Okay. Say it to me. Can you recite it from memory?

JUDGE SOTOMAYOR: I —

SEN. GRAHAM: I got it.

JUDGE SOTOMAYOR: (Laughs.)

SEN. GRAHAM: All right. "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experience, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male."

And the only reason I keep talking about this is that I'm in politics, and you got to watch what you say, because, one, you don't want to offend people you're trying to represent — but do you understand, ma'am, that if I had said anything like that, and my reasoning was that I'm trying to inspire somebody, they would have had my head? Do you understand that?

He started his testimony off with:

SEN. GRAHAM: Okay. Now let's talk about you. I like you, by the way, for whatever that matters. (Soft laughter.) Since I may vote for you, that ought to matter to you. (Soft laughter.)

One thing that stood out about your record is that when you look at the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, lawyers anonymously rate judges in terms of temperament, and here's what they said about you: "She's a terror on the bench." "She's temperamental, excitable." "She seems angry." "She's overly aggressive, not very judicial." "She does not have a very good temperament." "She abuses lawyers." "She really lacks judicial temperament." "She believes in an out-of- control — she behaves in an out-of-control manner." "She makes inappropriate outbursts." "She is nasty to lawyers." "She'll attack lawyers for making an argument she does not like." "She can be a bit of a bully."

When you look at the evaluation of the judges on the 2nd Circuit, you stand out like a sore thumb in terms of your temperament. What is your answer to these criticisms?

& the whole temperamental woman thing erks me bad.

Sotomayor & Sessions

Hey how hilarious have the nomination hearings been?

Oh that silly Sessions (R-Alabama) calling the Latino out for being a racist. Extra funny that his own judicial nomination to a federal court was rejected by judicial committee with a republican majority partly because of his own racist actions.

• Prosecuting some voter rights ppl with the MLK ties for voter fraud. The activists, known as the Marion Three, were acquitted in four hours. Civil rights groups charged that Sessions had been looking for voter fraud in the black community and overlooking the same violations among whites, at least partly to help reelect his friend Senator Denton.
  Sessions had labeled the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) "un-American" and "Communist-inspired."

• Sessions had called a white civil rights lawyer a "disgrace to his race" for litigating voting rights cases.

• Sessions was heard by several colleagues commenting that he "used to think they [the Klan] were OK" until he found out some of them were "pot smokers."