White House Talking Points Blast Sotomayor Foes As Desperate Culture Warriors
I’ve obtained a set of White House talking points, privately distributed to outside liberal allies, that chart an aggressive counterattack against foes of Sonia Sotomayor, claiming that critics of a major ruling “wish to reignite the culture wars of the past” and are “grasping for attacks in the face of a strong nominee.”
The new talking points — which hit back more aggressively than earlier ones — show the White House anticipates a fresh onslaught of attacks on her widely-cited ruling in Ricci vs. DeStefano when the Supreme Court rules on this case, perhaps this week. The talking points suggest the White House thinks the debate will shift to this case and that the attacks have some potential.
Sotomayor’s ruling — she upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a claim that New Haven discriminated against white firefighters by tossing poor results of an exam taken by blacks — has been hammered on the right as an embrace of racial preferences. The talking points hit back:
There has been an effort by some folks who wish to reignite the culture wars of the past to define this case as an affirmative action case. This is not a case about affirmative action — the City of New Haven had no relevant affirmative action plan in place — this was one of many employment discrimination cases under Title VII to come before the Second Circuit.
Some people are trying to criticize Judge Sotomayor for being a judicial activist even as they criticize her for judicial restraint in Ricci. This demonstrates that they are grasping for attacks in the face of a strong nominee. They simply can’t have it both ways.
The talking points — you can read more excerpts here — also strongly contest the claim Sotomayor is a judicial activist, arguing that her ruling actually revealed judicial restraint. The battle lines are drawn.
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Obama seems to be counterattacking on all fronts…
Good to see it. But it does remind me a tad of that wonderful bit from The Onion casting Dem vs Republican talking point themes as “Let’s talk about infrastructure” vs “Kill all the ********!”
No one ever said trailblazing was going to be easy.
Now do it by insisting on a true public health care option.
Agree with Bernie. Pitting “affirmative action” spin against “employment discrimination cases under Title VII?” This is a no brainer. The Obama admin spin loses badly on this one – the culture warriors’ argument will resonate.
The talking point that her decision is being criticized because she did not reach out and decide important constitutional questions is disingenuous. She is being criticized for her summary judgment without comment that seemed to indicate that there were no important constitutional issues at all in play. The talking point reads as if she was expecting the case to be accepted by the Supreme Court on appeal and that is why it was appropriate to not even comment on such constitutional issues.
I am happy to see that Greg is finally, somewhat obliquely, beginning to examine the important issues surrounding Sotomayor. Less spin and more analysis of her opinions please.
And it’s not really accurate to say it was “Sotomayor’s ruling” or that “she upheld a lower court’s dismissal.” It was a unanimous decision with a per curiam opinion by a panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, one member of which was Judge Sotomayor.