Comments on: Prop 8, and Why I Don’t Have an Opinion on Sotomayor http://theenlighteneddespot.com/2009/05/prop-8-and-why-i-dont-have-an-opinion-on-sotomayor/ a correct leaning blog Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:23:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: John Culhane http://theenlighteneddespot.com/2009/05/prop-8-and-why-i-dont-have-an-opinion-on-sotomayor/#comment-527 John Culhane Wed, 27 May 2009 00:24:16 +0000 http://theenlighteneddespot.com/?p=2039#comment-527 Your vituperative post ("this man is a law professor") overlooks the possibility that I'd read and digested the briefs, heard the three hours of oral argument, and understood the legal issues on both sides before the ruling was handed down. In fact, though, all of these things are true. My reaction was based on what I knew the court to have done, and I had a pretty good sense of the reasons it might have given for doing so. Mostly, I was right. (I've since done a sort of long legal analysis, but one geared for the "lay" audience.) Admittedly, I could have been clearer about what I meant by "blinking"; it's not surprising you were at a loss. What I meant, and should have conveyed more clearly, is that the court, with at least a couple of key justices soon up for retention, was intimidated by the populist rhetoric to the extent that its judgment was occluded; a judgment that I thought should have gone the other way, pretty much along the lines expressed in Justice Moreno's dissent. Your vituperative post (”this man is a law professor”) overlooks the possibility that I’d read and digested the briefs, heard the three hours of oral argument, and understood the legal issues on both sides before the ruling was handed down. In fact, though, all of these things are true. My reaction was based on what I knew the court to have done, and I had a pretty good sense of the reasons it might have given for doing so. Mostly, I was right. (I’ve since done a sort of long legal analysis, but one geared for the “lay” audience.)

Admittedly, I could have been clearer about what I meant by “blinking”; it’s not surprising you were at a loss. What I meant, and should have conveyed more clearly, is that the court, with at least a couple of key justices soon up for retention, was intimidated by the populist rhetoric to the extent that its judgment was occluded; a judgment that I thought should have gone the other way, pretty much along the lines expressed in Justice Moreno’s dissent.

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