Sotomayor Confirmed

To no one’s surprise, Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. (Click here, here, here, and here.) The vote was 68-31. All Democrats voted for her, along with nine Republicans. Senator Edward Kennedy is ailing and didn’t vote. She will be the third woman and the first Latino to serve on the Court.

I have previously covered all the labor and employment cases she decided as a federal district judge and all of the labor and employment opinions authored by her as a member of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. I also covered the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the Sotomayor confirmation.

In my opinion, from a labor and employment standpoint, her judicial decisions (with one exception) are neither pro-employee nor pro-employer. Based on her testimony at the confirmation hearings, there’s no way to tell where she’ll end up on labor and employment issues.

Within a couple of years, we’ll begin to have a pretty good idea. It’s my guess that she’ll be more of a maverick than was Justice David Souter, whom she’s replacing. Even if she were to vote exactly as Souter has voted, her presence on the Court will have little impact on whether the Court tilts to the right or to the left.

Stay tuned to find out who the real Sotomayor is on labor and employment and other issues to be tackled by the Supreme Court.