Religious Action Center :: RACBlog

Video: Judge Sotomayor's Hearings Begin Monday

2009-07-10T21:06:02Z

Beginning at 10am on Monday July 10^th, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be conducting hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court. The hearings are an opportunity to learn more about Judge Sotomayor's record, temperament, and judicial philosophy. We've This week, the RAC sent YOUR questions to the Judiciary Committee and encouraged the members to address the issues that we, as Reform Jews, care about.

The RAC will be providing coverage of the hearings through our blog (look for the "Focus on the Court" icon) and through video clips, so that you can see what is happening on the ground. Check out our first clip, with more information about next week's hearings, here: LINK

For more resources, visit the RAC's judicial nominations issue page.

Clinton, Pelosi, McCain, OH MY!

2009-07-10T19:45:58Z

Madeline Stolow is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Binghamton University and an intern here at the Religious Action Center.

My Facebook status on Tuesday July 7th read, "hearing Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and John McCain speak tmrw. thank you DC." Washington, D.C. is a different kind of place than anywhere else in the United States. There's diverse culture, excitement, and important people galore! Something particularly special about DC, at least in the summer months, is that there is always a free event available to college interns. Sometimes events even overlap, making us chose between seeing Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton at a national convention, and John McCain at an AIPAC seminar.

Yesterday, some of the Machon Kaplan participants were fortunate enough to attend the Campus Progress National Convention. At the convention, college students came together to "address the task of Delivering Change." Together we spoke about the challenges that we will face as young people living in this country today. We examined our options and discussed what we could do to create a future that we can look forward to. We broke into discussion groups based on our specific points of interest. The options included: labor rights, human rights, healthcare, climate change and college affordability.

I went with the group discussing college affordability, an issue that I am incredibly passionate about. For the two hours we were together, I learned a lot about the nitty-gritty of the issue. I learned about Students Over Banks, an organization that supports President Obama's plan to make college more affordable! I learned that there are so many students out there that are just like me- passionate about making college affordable for everyone.

I'm a part of a generation that is overly excited and willing to make every effort to change the world. It is no coincidence that we have had some incredible inspirational people surrounding us for our entire lives. Campus Progress gets major points for the excellent speakers they brought in. It wasn't until the end of the day that we got to listen to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then President Bill Clinton. I don't think I could possibly explain how excited I was to be in that room. So excited, apparently, that I forgot to check my watch and I missed the AIPAC seminar.

Let's just say that Wednesday night, my Facebook status changed to "did not get to hear McCain today...but got to shake President Clinton's hand!"

I'd say I had my share of excitement for the day.

"We eat it, they eat it"

2009-07-10T19:34:18Z

Yossi Alpher and Ghassan Khatib do yeoman's work in fostering productive discussion and mutual understanding through their production and editing of bitterlemons.org. Each week, Bitterlemons publishes and delivers to its subscribers four insightful opinions, divided equally between the Israeli and Palestinian communities, on pressing subjects such as "Can Hamas be part of the political process?", "Obama's Cairo speech," or "West Bank-Israel security issues."

When Sasha Baron Cohen sought their insights as Brüno, the bitterlemons founders' discussion tackled a rather different flavor:

WATCH!

2009-07-10T17:38:53Z

On Monday July 13th, at 10:00am, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court. Hearings on a Supreme Court nomination are an opportunity to witness the political process in action and history in the making. Don't miss this opportunity. You can watch the hearings live on the Senate Judiciary Committee website, where they will be streamed in their entirety or you can turn your TV onto C-SPAN. Also, check back on the RAC blog for daily postings on what is happening at the hearings.

While the Reform Movement has not taken a formal position on the nomination of Judge Sotomayor, we know that the nine Justices who sit on the Supreme Court have a significant impact on the issues of importance to our Movement--from the separation of church and state to reproductive choice, from civil rights to the environment. Thus, we believe that any person receiving a lifetime appointment to the highest Court in our nation must go through a comprehensive hearings process.

To contribute to this process, the Union for Reform Judaism sent a letter to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recommending questions for the Senators to ask during the hearings (see below for a full list of questions). If your Senator is on the Judiciary Committee (click here for a list of members), you can use the RAC's system to send an email, encouraging him or her to consider the Reform Movement's questions.

POTENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR JUDGE SOTOMAYOR
FROM THE RELIGIOUS ACTION CENTER OF REFORM JUDAISM

• Do you agree with the decision in Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation that taxpayers do not have standing to challenge Executive Branch funding of religious institutions? Does the Establishment Clause allow for direct funding of any sort of religious activity? Indirect funding?

• Based on your understanding of the Establishment Clause, does the First Amendment permit federal, state or local governments to display religious monuments and symbols --such as Christian crosses, Ten Commandments monuments and plaques, menorahs, nativity scenes, etc.-- in a non-museum or non-library setting?

• How does your religious background affect your approach to cases that come before you?

• Do you believe that certain rights exist that are not directly enumerated in the Constitution? How would you go about "finding" them?

• Do states have a right to define marriage as solely between a man and a woman? What should be the Federal role concerning marriage?

• Was the Defense of Marriage Act a proper exercise of Congress's Commerce Clause power?

• Do you think there should be a different level of constitutional scrutiny for laws that restrict sexual freedoms (e.g., sodomy laws) than for laws that restrict economic freedoms (e.g., limits on executive compensation). If so, why?

• Is Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act still necessary? Is it Constitutional?

• Do you agree with the Roper v. Simmons decision that the death penalty for individuals who have committed crimes before the age of 18 is cruel and unusual punishment? In what other circumstances could the death penalty be considered cruel and unusual punishment?

• Do you agree with the Boumediene v. Bush decision that enemy combatants held at Guantanamo bay have a right to habeas corpus? Under what circumstances would you expand the holding in Boumediene to grant habeas corpus to other combatants imprisoned or incarcerated by U.S. military forces? Would it make any difference if they were citizens or non-citizens?

• Which government agencies have the power to enforce the Clean Water Act and other environmental legislation?

• Under what circumstances do you affirm the right of a woman to choose not to have a baby?

• Do you believe that the Americans with Disabilities Act was a legitimate exercise of Congress's power to remediate discrimination against people with disabilities?

• Please discuss your consensus-building abilities. How, as a Supreme Court justice, would you go about working with your colleagues to gain support for your views?