Sonia's Featured Role in 'Hillary: The Movie'

By: Andrew Cohen
Topics: Sonia Sotomayor

(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

And so it comes to pass at the United States Supreme Court this week that the constitutionality of a movie about a woman who could easily be a Justice (and who one day may be) will be judged by a woman who actually is.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, sitting for your first oral argument since joining the Court last month? Meet Hillary Clinton, The Movie. Oh, wait. Perhaps you've already met!

Even though we are weeks away from the first Monday in October, the Court meets this Wednesday, in a rare September session, to evaluate the constitutionality of important campaign finance laws. The case is a big one, but the question at its core is simple: Does the First Amendment distinguish between campaign contributions from individuals and those of corporations?

Most legal observers believe the Court's conservative majority will answer that question "No," invalidate the federal statutory scheme involved, and thus unleash into elections a barely-regulated flood of corporate money (and maybe union money, too, for that matter).

In her very first public appearance at work, Justice Sotomayor thus may help illustrate how little the Court moved this past year, in the trade-off between her and Justice David Souter, and how much it moved in 2006, when conservative Justice Samuel Alito took the place of less conservative Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The latter, Lady Justice, was the fifth and deciding vote (and co-author of the majority ruling) in McConnell v. FEC, a 2003 Court ruling which upheld corporate restrictions on contributions.

This means that Justice Samuel Alito is likely to be the deciding vote in the upcoming "Hillary" case, titled Citizens United v. FEC. There are a number of court watchers who believe Justice Alito's apparent eagerness to scrap-heap the McCain-Feingold Act (and to overrule the McConnell precedent) is the reason the Court took the rare step of enlarging the range of issues it now seeks to resolve through this second round of oral argument in the case. Justice Sotomayor? She'll almost certainly be the fourth vote in dissent that Justice Souter would have been had he stayed another year or so.

Whatever occurs, Wednesday will surely be a memorable day for the newest Justice, who will don her robes for the first time as Queen of the Hill.

Will she ask a lot of questions like she did when she was a lower-court judge? Or will she pull a Justice Thomas and remain mute? We'll see. It's the first day of the rest of her life and she's starting out with one of the biggest cases the Court will hear all term.

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by slownewsday_5 September 7, 2009 9:06 PM EDT

"by nonewsday
before you start accusing the Conservatives take a closer look at the Liberals. There has never been a more crooked bunch than Liberals."

I think both of you types of extremists are the problem.

You are nowhere near the middle - most Americans are a mix of liberal and conservative. I'm a fiscal conservative, and a social liberal.

Must of us don't fit in your "us or them" philospohy. YOU are the problem with America right now.

.

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by slownewsday_5 September 7, 2009 9:07 PM EDT: And I oversimplified my position re: liberal/conservative. I really take each issue one by one, rather than swallow any platform blindly, as you extremists do.

Think, people.... THINK!!


by BuddyBeanbags September 7, 2009 9:57 PM EDT: by slownewsday_5 September 7, 2009 9:06 PM EDT

I agree 100%. I too am a fiscal conservative, and a social liberal (I used to call myself a republican), so I have no other choice than to align myself with the adults in the discussion these days, unfortunately it's the democrats. The republicans have a serious image problem, they look like blithering idiots intent on destroying our country. That will not happen. They think they have all the guns and will force their stilted views upon us... they're wrong.

by dibbs977 September 7, 2009 2:00 PM EDT

Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear. ~William E. Gladstone

Republicans hate government and purposely put incompetent and corrupt people in place because they want government to fail so they can privitize everything and they make millions in the neo-con conservative movement. They hate government because then want business to control everything and they know that government is the only thing powerful enough to stop them. Our founding fathers were terrified that Monarchy would once again gain power; big business would now be that dreaded threat to Democracy. They believe in "Plutocracy" --a society ruled and controlled the the few very wealthy.

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by BeckieBest September 7, 2009 10:03 PM EDT: nonewsday

If you couldn't lie, would you have anything at all to say?


by BeckieBest September 7, 2009 11:31 AM EDT: If we give multi-national corporations the same legal rights as American citizens and equate money with speach, we can kiss Democracy goodbye.

Looks like we're headed for the Republican dream of a government by the corporation, of the corporation, and for the corporation.; Reply to this comment