Sotomayor: The Drinking Game

Bart Didden—A resident of Port Chester, New York, whose property was condemned for a local redevelopment effort. Didden also alleged that the city had resorted to extortion over the use of the land. A 2nd Circuit panel that included Judge Sotomayor held that the city did not violate the Constitution’s “takings” clause under the Supreme Court’s controversial Kelo decision. Kelo has ironically spurred a renaissance in property rights.

Belizean Grove—A group of professional women formed as a counterpoint to the all-male Bohemian Club, which hosts an annual retreat at its Bohemian Grove compound. Judge Sotomayor joined—she has since resigned—notwithstanding that, as a practical matter, it excluded men as members, and the judicial code of ethics prohibits membership in exclusionary groups.

Umpire—The ideal, embodied in Chief Justice Roberts. Republican opponents believe Judge Sotomayor instead plays left field.

Baseball—The American pastime, which Democrats contend Judge Sotomayor saved in ending a lockout of the players in 1995, though they will be quick to tell you that of course she actually did not allow her feelings for the game to influence her ruling and would just as easily have ruled for the owners if the law were on their side, all of which makes the story kind of pointless.

Nancy Drew—An American heroine who always seemed to get herself into and out of troubles in stories that my 6-year-old daughter loves to read, as did Sonia Sotomayor, which means that my kid is going to sit on the Supreme Court some day.

Document Dump—The materials recently received from the controversial/heroic PRLDEF (see above), which some Republicans will use to explain that they are voting against Sotomayor only because the process was too rushed. (Two shots if they mention their admiration for Estrada at the same time.)

Privacy and Stare Decisis—Roe v. Wade. No sane nominee answers the one question people care the most about when it comes to the Supreme Court: Will you vote to uphold, overturn, narrow, or expand the constitutional right to an abortion? So the question gets asked in terms of the “right to privacy” and stare decisis, which is Latin for, “I will uphold any decision that I think is pretty much correct, but it would be inappropriate to say more.”

I hope that you will find this list handy. And I certainly hope that the hearings are interesting and substantive. Otherwise, we’re all going to be pretty hammered.

Plus, watch Tom Goldstein’s hilarious fake commercial:

Tom Goldstein practices at Akin Gump and teaches Supreme Court litigation at Harvard and Stanford Law Schools. He has argued 21 Supreme Court cases. He founded and manages SCOTUSblog, which is devoted to coverage of the Court. He also spends time working with Sony Pictures Television on a TV series about his practice.