Jerry Markon of the Washington Post writes here on Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s seeming preoccupation with the factual details of the trial record. This is most unusual in an appellate jurist, although not necessarily a bad thing. Experts disagree. University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman calls it an ”odd use of judicial time” and bemoans Sotomayor’s “carpet bombing” approach to opinion writing. Former Clarence Thomas clerk Dan Himmelfarb praises Sotomayor’s “extraordinarily thorough” opinions. Finally, Washington DC criminal appellate attorney Adrienne Urrutia Wisenberg, letterofapology’s favorite expert, admires Sotomayor’s “tenacious trial lawyer’s personality.” The article is based on analysis of Sotomayor’s opinions in 46 Second Circuit split decisions. This accompanying piece contains excerpts from some of Sotomayor’s opinions, with links to the full opinion for each excerpt.
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Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspaper has this interesting story on Sonia Sotomayor’s district and appellate court rulings in criminal law matters. Doyle’s analysis is definitely for the general reader, yet it is better than most. Among Doyle’s findings, Sotomayor has apparently ruled, or joined others in ruling, for the government in 65 of the 90 criminal appeals she has decided on the Second Circuit. (This must be a reference to published opinions.) When voting on behalf of defendants, she has been in the majority in all but one case. Sotomayor is not afraid to go after the government for Brady violations, but does not appear to veer outside of the mainstream in her criminal law rulings. For example, in one child pornography case she ruled that an FBI affidavit lacked probable cause, but upheld the ensuing search. This was obviously the right holding under the Supreme Court’s good faith test established in U.S. v. Leon.
According here to the Washington Post, the announcement will come at 10:15. And here is a background piece on Sotomayor by the Post’s Keith Richburg. The article does not get into any real legal analysis, but does contain some basic biographical and human interest facts. Sotomayor actually tried cases to juries as a young lawyer, which, if she is confirmed, will make her a rarity among modern Supreme Court Justices.