WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama tapped federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court on Tuesday, officials said, making her the first Hispanic in history picked to wear the robes of a justice.
If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor, 54, would succeed retiring Justice David Souter. Two officials described Obama's decision on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had been made.
Administration officials say Sotomayor would bring more judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice confirmed in the past 70 years.
A formal announcement was expected at midmorning.
Obama had said publicly he wanted a justice who combined intellect and empathy — the ability to understand the troubles of everyday Americans.
Democrats hold a large majority in the Senate, and barring the unexpected, Sotomayor's confirmation should be assured.
If approved, she would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the current court.
Sotomayor is a self-described "Newyorkrican" who grew up in a Bronx housing project after her parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico. She has dealt with diabetes since age 8 and lost her father at age 9, growing up under the care of her mother in humble surroundings. As a girl, inspired by the Perry Mason television show, she knew she wanted to be a judge.
A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, a former prosecutor and private attorney, Sotomayor became a federal judge for the Southern District of New York in 1992.
As a judge, she has a bipartisan pedigree. She was first appointed by a Republican, President George H.W. Bush, then named an appeals judge by President Bill Clinton in 1997.
At her Senate confirmation hearing more than a decade ago, she said, "I don't believe we should bend the Constitution under any circumstance. It says what it says. We should do honor to it."
In one of her most memorable rulings as federal district judge, Sotomayor essentially salvaged baseball in 1995, ruling with players over owners in a labor strike that had led to the cancellation of the World Series.
As an appellate judge, she sided with the city of New Haven, Conn., in a discrimination case brought by white firefighters after the city threw out results of a promotion exam because two few minorities scored high enough. Ironically, that case is now before the Supreme Court.
Obama's nomination is the first by a Democratic president in 15 years.
His announcement also leaves the Senate four months — more than enough by traditional standards — to complete confirmation proceedings before the Court begins its next term in the fall.
Republicans have issued conflicting signals about their intentions. While some have threatened filibusters if they deemed Obama's pick too liberal, others have said that is unlikely.
Given Sotomayor's selection, any decision to filibuster would presumably carry political risks — Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment of the population and an increasingly important one politically.
Abortion rights have been a flashpoint in several recent Supreme Court confirmations, although Sotomayor has not authored any controversial rulings on the subject.
Sotomayor's elevation to the appeals court was delayed by Republicans, in part out of concerns she might someday be selected for the Supreme Court. She was ultimately confirmed for the appeals court in 1998 on a 68-28 vote, gathering some Republican support.
Among those voting against her was Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, now the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee that will hold sway over her confirmation.
Now, more than a decade later, Sotomayor possesses credentials Sessions said he wanted in a pick for the high court — years of experience on the bench. Obama had talked openly about the upside of choosing someone outside the judiciary — every single current justice is a former federal appeals court judge — but passed on at least two serious candidates who had never been judges.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
North Korea Fires More Missles
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea launched tests Tuesday of two more short-range missiles a day after detonating a nuclear bomb underground, a news report said, pushing the regime's confrontation with world powers further despite the threat of U.N. Security Council action.
Two missiles — one ground-to-air, the other ground-to-ship — with a range of about 80 miles (130 kilometers) were test-fired from an east coast launch pad, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed government official.
South Korean spy chief Won Sei-hoon had informed lawmakers earlier Tuesday that a missile test was likely, according to the office of Park Young-sun, a legislator who attended the closed-door briefing.
Yonhap reported that North Korea was preparing to launch a third missile from a west coast site, again citing an unnamed official.
North Korea appeared to be displaying its might a day after conducting an underground atomic test in the northeast that the U.N. Security Council condemned as a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning the regime from developing its nuclear program.
France called for new sanctions, while the U.S. and Japan pushed for strong action against North Korea for testing a bomb that Russian officials said was comparable in power to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
South Korea, meanwhile, announced it would join a maritime web of more than 90 nations that intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction — a move North Korea warned would constitute an act of war.
North Korea had threatened in recent weeks to carry out a nuclear test and fire long-range missiles unless the Security Council apologized for condemning Pyongyang's April 5 launch of a rocket the U.S., Japan and other nations called a test of its long-range missile technology. The North has said it put a satellite into orbit as part of its peaceful space development program.
Monday morning's nuclear test appeared to catch the world by surprise, but Won told lawmakers that Beijing and Washington knew Pyongyang was planning a test some 20-25 minutes before it was carried out, said Choi Kyu-ha, an aide to lawmaker Park.
Won said Pyongyang warned it would test the bomb unless the head of the Security Council offered an immediate apology. Russia said the test went off at 9:54 a.m. local time (0054 GMT) Monday. Won confirmed that two short-range missile tests from an east coast launch pad followed.
Yonhap reported that three missile tests were carried out Monday, and two more Tuesday.
North Korea's neighbors and their allies scrambled to galvanize support for strong, united response to Pyongyang's nuclear belligerence.
President Barack Obama and South Korea's Lee Myung-bak "agreed that the test was a reckless violation of international law that compels action in response," the White House said in a statement after the leaders spoke by telephone. They also vowed to "seek and support a strong United Nations Security Council resolution with concrete measures to curtail North Korea's nuclear and missile activities."
Obama also spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, the White House said, with the leaders agreeing to step up coordination with South Korea, China and Russia.
Obama reiterated the U.S. commitment to defend both South Korean and Japan, U.S. and South Korean officials said.
North Korea responded by accusing the U.S. of hostility, and said Tuesday that its army and people were ready to defeat any American invasion.
"The current U.S. administration is following in the footsteps of the previous Bush administration's reckless policy of militarily stifling North Korea," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in commentary carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
In Japan, which suffered the devastation of two atomic bombs in 1945, the lower house of parliament quickly passed an unanimous resolution condemning the test and demanding that North Korea give up its nuclear program, a house spokeswoman said.
"This reckless act, along with the previous missile launch, threatened peace and stability in the region, including Japan," the resolution said.
"North Korea's repeated nuclear tests posed a grave challenge to international nuclear nonproliferation," it said. "Japan, the only nation to suffer atomic attacks, cannot tolerate this." Japan is considering tightening sanctions against North Korea, the statement said.
Russia, which called the test a "serious blow" to the effort to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, suspended a Russia-North Korean intergovernmental trade and economic commission, apparently in response to the nuclear test. The slap on the wrist was a telling indication that Moscow, once a key backer of North Korea, was unhappy with Pyongyang.
Seoul reacted to the nuclear test by joining the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, joining 94 nations seeking to intercept ships suspected of carrying nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, materials to make them, or missiles to deliver them.
North Korea for years has warned the South against joining the U.S.-led blockade. The Rodong Sinmun last week said South Korea's participation would be "nothing but a gambit to conceal their belligerence and justify a new northward invasion scheme."
Joining the PSI would end in Seoul's "self-destruction" it said.
In Beijing, the defense chiefs of South Korea and China were holding a security meeting Tuesday, South Korean officials said.
South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee and China's Gen. Liang Guanglie were expected to discuss ways to respond to the nuclear test, Cho Baek-sang, international policy director at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
China said Monday it "resolutely opposed" North Korea's test and called on Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its atomic programs.
___
Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim and Jean H. Lee in Seoul, Shino Yuasa in Tokyo and Mike Eckel in Moscow contributed to this report.
Two missiles — one ground-to-air, the other ground-to-ship — with a range of about 80 miles (130 kilometers) were test-fired from an east coast launch pad, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed government official.
South Korean spy chief Won Sei-hoon had informed lawmakers earlier Tuesday that a missile test was likely, according to the office of Park Young-sun, a legislator who attended the closed-door briefing.
Yonhap reported that North Korea was preparing to launch a third missile from a west coast site, again citing an unnamed official.
North Korea appeared to be displaying its might a day after conducting an underground atomic test in the northeast that the U.N. Security Council condemned as a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning the regime from developing its nuclear program.
France called for new sanctions, while the U.S. and Japan pushed for strong action against North Korea for testing a bomb that Russian officials said was comparable in power to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
South Korea, meanwhile, announced it would join a maritime web of more than 90 nations that intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction — a move North Korea warned would constitute an act of war.
North Korea had threatened in recent weeks to carry out a nuclear test and fire long-range missiles unless the Security Council apologized for condemning Pyongyang's April 5 launch of a rocket the U.S., Japan and other nations called a test of its long-range missile technology. The North has said it put a satellite into orbit as part of its peaceful space development program.
Monday morning's nuclear test appeared to catch the world by surprise, but Won told lawmakers that Beijing and Washington knew Pyongyang was planning a test some 20-25 minutes before it was carried out, said Choi Kyu-ha, an aide to lawmaker Park.
Won said Pyongyang warned it would test the bomb unless the head of the Security Council offered an immediate apology. Russia said the test went off at 9:54 a.m. local time (0054 GMT) Monday. Won confirmed that two short-range missile tests from an east coast launch pad followed.
Yonhap reported that three missile tests were carried out Monday, and two more Tuesday.
North Korea's neighbors and their allies scrambled to galvanize support for strong, united response to Pyongyang's nuclear belligerence.
President Barack Obama and South Korea's Lee Myung-bak "agreed that the test was a reckless violation of international law that compels action in response," the White House said in a statement after the leaders spoke by telephone. They also vowed to "seek and support a strong United Nations Security Council resolution with concrete measures to curtail North Korea's nuclear and missile activities."
Obama also spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, the White House said, with the leaders agreeing to step up coordination with South Korea, China and Russia.
Obama reiterated the U.S. commitment to defend both South Korean and Japan, U.S. and South Korean officials said.
North Korea responded by accusing the U.S. of hostility, and said Tuesday that its army and people were ready to defeat any American invasion.
"The current U.S. administration is following in the footsteps of the previous Bush administration's reckless policy of militarily stifling North Korea," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in commentary carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
In Japan, which suffered the devastation of two atomic bombs in 1945, the lower house of parliament quickly passed an unanimous resolution condemning the test and demanding that North Korea give up its nuclear program, a house spokeswoman said.
"This reckless act, along with the previous missile launch, threatened peace and stability in the region, including Japan," the resolution said.
"North Korea's repeated nuclear tests posed a grave challenge to international nuclear nonproliferation," it said. "Japan, the only nation to suffer atomic attacks, cannot tolerate this." Japan is considering tightening sanctions against North Korea, the statement said.
Russia, which called the test a "serious blow" to the effort to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, suspended a Russia-North Korean intergovernmental trade and economic commission, apparently in response to the nuclear test. The slap on the wrist was a telling indication that Moscow, once a key backer of North Korea, was unhappy with Pyongyang.
Seoul reacted to the nuclear test by joining the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, joining 94 nations seeking to intercept ships suspected of carrying nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, materials to make them, or missiles to deliver them.
North Korea for years has warned the South against joining the U.S.-led blockade. The Rodong Sinmun last week said South Korea's participation would be "nothing but a gambit to conceal their belligerence and justify a new northward invasion scheme."
Joining the PSI would end in Seoul's "self-destruction" it said.
In Beijing, the defense chiefs of South Korea and China were holding a security meeting Tuesday, South Korean officials said.
South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee and China's Gen. Liang Guanglie were expected to discuss ways to respond to the nuclear test, Cho Baek-sang, international policy director at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
China said Monday it "resolutely opposed" North Korea's test and called on Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its atomic programs.
___
Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim and Jean H. Lee in Seoul, Shino Yuasa in Tokyo and Mike Eckel in Moscow contributed to this report.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Man With Hand Grenade Threatened To Blow Himself Up In Serbian Presidents Headquarters
BELGRADE, Serbia – A man with a hand grenade entered the Serbian president's headquarters Thursday and threatened to detonate the device if his court case is not settled within the day, officials said.
President Boris Tadic's office said the leader entered the building after the standoff began, but it would not say why he went into the building, where SWAT teams were dealing with the situation.
The man, identified by one official as a bankrupt businessman, is seated in a small lobby at a side entrance, surrounded by shielded policemen pointing guns at him while negotiators tried to persuade him to surrender, Belgrade's independent B-92 radio said.
Many people were still inside the building, including office workers. And the president's spokeswoman moved back and forth between the building and reporters.
Police stopped all traffic in the busy downtown area.
Security people in the lobby had taken away one grenade from the middle-aged man, but he still was holding a second grenade with its pin removed, said Jasmina Stojanov, Tadic's press office spokeswoman.
She could not say what the man's motive was. But another government official identified him as Dragan Maric, 57, and said he had announced his plan in an e-mail sent to various government addresses.
The man said in the e-mail that he would blow himself up if a court did not rule in his favor in an unspecified case by 4 p.m. (1400 GMT) Thursday, the official said.
Maric, once a wealthy businessman, has staged several public hunger strikes since his company went bankrupt in the early 2000s. In 2004, he threatened to burn himself alive, He also offered his kidney for sale that year to get money for living.
"Even death is better than tyranny," the man said in the e-email, according to the official, who refused to be named because she was not entitled to discuss the incident.
The incident follows U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit Wednesday to Belgrade, which nationalists opposed. The United States recognized Kosovo's declared independence from Serbia last year, a change Serbia has vowed never to accept.
President Boris Tadic's office said the leader entered the building after the standoff began, but it would not say why he went into the building, where SWAT teams were dealing with the situation.
The man, identified by one official as a bankrupt businessman, is seated in a small lobby at a side entrance, surrounded by shielded policemen pointing guns at him while negotiators tried to persuade him to surrender, Belgrade's independent B-92 radio said.
Many people were still inside the building, including office workers. And the president's spokeswoman moved back and forth between the building and reporters.
Police stopped all traffic in the busy downtown area.
Security people in the lobby had taken away one grenade from the middle-aged man, but he still was holding a second grenade with its pin removed, said Jasmina Stojanov, Tadic's press office spokeswoman.
She could not say what the man's motive was. But another government official identified him as Dragan Maric, 57, and said he had announced his plan in an e-mail sent to various government addresses.
The man said in the e-mail that he would blow himself up if a court did not rule in his favor in an unspecified case by 4 p.m. (1400 GMT) Thursday, the official said.
Maric, once a wealthy businessman, has staged several public hunger strikes since his company went bankrupt in the early 2000s. In 2004, he threatened to burn himself alive, He also offered his kidney for sale that year to get money for living.
"Even death is better than tyranny," the man said in the e-email, according to the official, who refused to be named because she was not entitled to discuss the incident.
The incident follows U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit Wednesday to Belgrade, which nationalists opposed. The United States recognized Kosovo's declared independence from Serbia last year, a change Serbia has vowed never to accept.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
UK 'Least Wanted' Lists Published
UK 'least wanted' list published
The names of some of the people barred from entering the UK for fostering extremism or hatred have been published for the first time.
Islamic extremists, white supremacists and a US radio host are among the 16 of 22 excluded in the five months to March to have been named by the Home Office.
Since 2005, the UK has been able to ban people who promote hatred, terrorist violence or serious criminal activity.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said coming to the UK should be a privilege.
Ms Smith said "the public interest was against naming" the remaining six, for example on the grounds it could reveal the type of information being held about them.
The Muslim Council of Britain says the government should not act against people - whatever their views - unless they have broken the law.
'Against our values'
However, Ms Smith said granting free speech did not provide a licence to preach hatred and that those banned had "clearly overstepped the mark" with the attitudes they had expressed.
Pastor Fred Phelps had planned a protest in the UK before his ban
"[Naming them] enables people to see the sorts of unacceptable behaviour we are not willing to have in this country.
"Coming to this country is a privilege. We won't allow people into this country who are going to propagate the sort of views... that fundamentally go against our values."
Ms Smith had announced in October the tightening of rules determining who could come to the UK.
A "presumption in favour of exclusion" was introduced that meant it would be up to the individual concerned to prove they would not "stir up tension" after arrival.
On the list of those banned between October and March are Hamas MP Yunis Al-Astal and Jewish extremist Mike Guzovsky.
Also excluded are two leaders of a violent Russian skinhead gang, ex-Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Stephen 'Don' Black and neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe.
EXCLUSIONS
Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal
Yunis Al Astal
Samir Al Quntar
Stephen Donald Black
Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim
Erich Gliebe
Mike Guzovsky
Safwat Hijazi
Nasr Javed
Abdul Ali Musa
Fred Waldron Phelps Snr
Shirley Phelps-Roper
Artur Ryno
Amir Siddique
Pavel Skachevsky
Michael Alan Weiner
UK 'least wanted' list in detail
Send us your comments
Fred Waldron Phelps Snr, a 79-year-old American Baptist pastor, and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper are barred for their anti-gay comments.
Both have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and celebrated the deaths of US soldiers as "punishment" for US tolerance of homosexuality.
Talk show host Michael Savage - real name Michael Weiner - is also excluded. His views on immigration, Islam, rape and autism have caused great offence in America.
Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, told BBC Radio 5 Live that people should be free to enter the country, regardless of their views.
"If they step over the line and break the law, it's at that moment the law should be enacted, not beforehand.
"If people are keeping their odious views to themselves, that's their business. We should not be in the business of policing people's minds."
He added that internet broadcasts meant that speeches could be screened from abroad into UK meetings anyway.
In recent years, individuals from a range of backgrounds have been prevented from entering the UK.
They have included animal rights activists, rap singers such as Snoop Dogg and even a lifestyle "guru" - Martha Stewart.
She was kept out after being jailed in the US for lying to investigators about a share sale.
The names of some of the people barred from entering the UK for fostering extremism or hatred have been published for the first time.
Islamic extremists, white supremacists and a US radio host are among the 16 of 22 excluded in the five months to March to have been named by the Home Office.
Since 2005, the UK has been able to ban people who promote hatred, terrorist violence or serious criminal activity.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said coming to the UK should be a privilege.
Ms Smith said "the public interest was against naming" the remaining six, for example on the grounds it could reveal the type of information being held about them.
The Muslim Council of Britain says the government should not act against people - whatever their views - unless they have broken the law.
'Against our values'
However, Ms Smith said granting free speech did not provide a licence to preach hatred and that those banned had "clearly overstepped the mark" with the attitudes they had expressed.
Pastor Fred Phelps had planned a protest in the UK before his ban
"[Naming them] enables people to see the sorts of unacceptable behaviour we are not willing to have in this country.
"Coming to this country is a privilege. We won't allow people into this country who are going to propagate the sort of views... that fundamentally go against our values."
Ms Smith had announced in October the tightening of rules determining who could come to the UK.
A "presumption in favour of exclusion" was introduced that meant it would be up to the individual concerned to prove they would not "stir up tension" after arrival.
On the list of those banned between October and March are Hamas MP Yunis Al-Astal and Jewish extremist Mike Guzovsky.
Also excluded are two leaders of a violent Russian skinhead gang, ex-Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Stephen 'Don' Black and neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe.
EXCLUSIONS
Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal
Yunis Al Astal
Samir Al Quntar
Stephen Donald Black
Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim
Erich Gliebe
Mike Guzovsky
Safwat Hijazi
Nasr Javed
Abdul Ali Musa
Fred Waldron Phelps Snr
Shirley Phelps-Roper
Artur Ryno
Amir Siddique
Pavel Skachevsky
Michael Alan Weiner
UK 'least wanted' list in detail
Send us your comments
Fred Waldron Phelps Snr, a 79-year-old American Baptist pastor, and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper are barred for their anti-gay comments.
Both have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and celebrated the deaths of US soldiers as "punishment" for US tolerance of homosexuality.
Talk show host Michael Savage - real name Michael Weiner - is also excluded. His views on immigration, Islam, rape and autism have caused great offence in America.
Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, told BBC Radio 5 Live that people should be free to enter the country, regardless of their views.
"If they step over the line and break the law, it's at that moment the law should be enacted, not beforehand.
"If people are keeping their odious views to themselves, that's their business. We should not be in the business of policing people's minds."
He added that internet broadcasts meant that speeches could be screened from abroad into UK meetings anyway.
In recent years, individuals from a range of backgrounds have been prevented from entering the UK.
They have included animal rights activists, rap singers such as Snoop Dogg and even a lifestyle "guru" - Martha Stewart.
She was kept out after being jailed in the US for lying to investigators about a share sale.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
