Larry Tribe, Obama, Kagan, Sotomayor The plot thickens. The players take their place. Lights, sound, camera and action!
Oct 28, 2010 3:40pm
Oct 28, 2010 3:40pm
Larry Tribe to Obama: Sotomayor ‘Not Nearly as Smart as She Seems to Think’
ABC News' Ariane de Vogue reports:
In May of 2009, just after Justice David Souter announced his plan to retire from the bench, constitutional law professor Larry Tribe– who is considered a liberal legal icon– advised President Obama NOT to nominate Sonia Sotomayor to the bench.
In a letter, first reported by Ed Whelan of the conservative National Review, Tribe told the president, “Bluntly put she’s not nearly as smart as she seems to think she is.”
Tribe, a former professor of the President’s, continued, …"her reputation for being something of a bully could well maker her liberal impulses backfire and simply add to the fire power of the Roberts/Alito/Scalia/Thomas wing of the Court"
The purpose of the letter was to support a nomination of Elena Kagan to the seat. Of Kagan, Tribe brought up a bowling reference writing, “I can’t think of anyone nearly as strong as Elena Kagan, whose combination of intellectual brilliance and political skill would make her a ten-strike.” Kagan and Tribe are long time friends going back to when she served as his research assistant in the early 80’s.
President Obama ultimately did not take Tribe’s advice and nominated Justice Sotomayor to the bench. However, when he was faced with his second opportunity to name a Supreme Court Justice for the seat vacated by Justice John Paul Stevens, he nominated Kagan.
Tribe’s letter will be of interest to court watchers for his analysis of other potential candidates for the court.
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm would be a “dramatic appointment.” Kathleen Sullivan, a lawyer in private practice, … “might be worth fighting for.”
Judge Diane Wood is “more powerful intellectually than Sonia Sotomayor” but would likely “serve nearly a decade less than Elena” and “doesn’t appear to me to have the dynamic personality or the extraordinary diplomatic gifts for inspiring confidence.”
Tribe wrote the letter while he was still at Harvard but concluded by saying that he hoped “before too long” to come to play a more direct role in the administration, "perhaps in a newly created DOJ position." He indeed began such a job last February.
Larry Tribe has released a statement attempting to clarify (i.e repair the damage) of the sentiments he expressed in his blunt 2009 letter to the president. The letter managed to insult three sitting Justices.
Regarding his original statement that Sotomayor isn’t “as smart as she thinks she is” he says that his criticism was “amply refuted” once he was able to give her record a “closer study.”
In the original letter Tribe slammed Justice Breyer for failing to be a “formidable match for Justice Scalia” and accused Justice Kennedy of being “formalistic.” In the new statement Tribe says he has “long held” Justices Breyer and Kennedy in the “highest regard”.
“I regret, any contrary implication some may try to I draw from my letter, taken out of context.”
Awkward.
Full statement:
I don’t comment on my confidential advice to the President, and I regarded the letter I wrote in May 2009 as confidential. The fact that it was leaked doesn’t change my policy. I can say this much: I’ve long held Justices Breyer and Kennedy in the highest regard, both as friends and as jurists, and I regret any contrary implication some may try to I draw from my letter, taken out of context. I would also stress that the reservations I expressed about Justice Sotomayor prior to her nomination were amply refuted by the closer study I was able to give her record before the President made his decision and were happily negated by her performance as a Justice thus far.
In May of 2009, just after Justice David Souter announced his plan to retire from the bench, constitutional law professor Larry Tribe– who is considered a liberal legal icon– advised President Obama NOT to nominate Sonia Sotomayor to the bench.
In a letter, first reported by Ed Whelan of the conservative National Review, Tribe told the president, “Bluntly put she’s not nearly as smart as she seems to think she is.”
Tribe, a former professor of the President’s, continued, …"her reputation for being something of a bully could well maker her liberal impulses backfire and simply add to the fire power of the Roberts/Alito/Scalia/Thomas wing of the Court"
The purpose of the letter was to support a nomination of Elena Kagan to the seat. Of Kagan, Tribe brought up a bowling reference writing, “I can’t think of anyone nearly as strong as Elena Kagan, whose combination of intellectual brilliance and political skill would make her a ten-strike.” Kagan and Tribe are long time friends going back to when she served as his research assistant in the early 80’s.
President Obama ultimately did not take Tribe’s advice and nominated Justice Sotomayor to the bench. However, when he was faced with his second opportunity to name a Supreme Court Justice for the seat vacated by Justice John Paul Stevens, he nominated Kagan.
Tribe’s letter will be of interest to court watchers for his analysis of other potential candidates for the court.
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm would be a “dramatic appointment.” Kathleen Sullivan, a lawyer in private practice, … “might be worth fighting for.”
Judge Diane Wood is “more powerful intellectually than Sonia Sotomayor” but would likely “serve nearly a decade less than Elena” and “doesn’t appear to me to have the dynamic personality or the extraordinary diplomatic gifts for inspiring confidence.”
Tribe wrote the letter while he was still at Harvard but concluded by saying that he hoped “before too long” to come to play a more direct role in the administration, "perhaps in a newly created DOJ position." He indeed began such a job last February.
Larry Tribe has released a statement attempting to clarify (i.e repair the damage) of the sentiments he expressed in his blunt 2009 letter to the president. The letter managed to insult three sitting Justices.
Regarding his original statement that Sotomayor isn’t “as smart as she thinks she is” he says that his criticism was “amply refuted” once he was able to give her record a “closer study.”
In the original letter Tribe slammed Justice Breyer for failing to be a “formidable match for Justice Scalia” and accused Justice Kennedy of being “formalistic.” In the new statement Tribe says he has “long held” Justices Breyer and Kennedy in the “highest regard”.
“I regret, any contrary implication some may try to I draw from my letter, taken out of context.”
Awkward.
Full statement:
I don’t comment on my confidential advice to the President, and I regarded the letter I wrote in May 2009 as confidential. The fact that it was leaked doesn’t change my policy. I can say this much: I’ve long held Justices Breyer and Kennedy in the highest regard, both as friends and as jurists, and I regret any contrary implication some may try to I draw from my letter, taken out of context. I would also stress that the reservations I expressed about Justice Sotomayor prior to her nomination were amply refuted by the closer study I was able to give her record before the President made his decision and were happily negated by her performance as a Justice thus far.
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