Dr. Donald Greenberg on President Obama's pick of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court

Dr. Donald Greenberg on President Obama's pick of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court

Dr. Donald Greenberg, associate professor of politics at Fairfield University who specializes in the Supreme Court, says he doesn't expect the appointment of federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court to affect the existing balance. "Basically she will be replacing a consistently liberal voice on the Supreme Court," he said, in her replacement of Judge David Souter.

In a highly publicized case last year, Sotomayor was one of three judges on a District Court panel that ruled in favor of the city of New Haven, Conn., in a discrimination case brought by white firefighters. The city had thrown out results of a promotion exam because too few minorities had scored high enough. In an interesting twist, that case is now before the Supreme Court. Greenberg says he thinks Judge David Souter would have decided the case in the same way.

One area Greenberg will be watching if Sotomayor is confirmed, he said, is her position on expanding executive orders. "Judge Souter came down consistently on limiting executive orders under President George W. Bush." He said it will be interesting to see if Sotomayor will do the same with the President Obama.

Posted On: 05-26-2009 10:05 AM

Volume: 41 Number: 344