Sotomayor on Immigration

With the Senate set to confirm Judge Sotomayor very soon, little has been said about her record on immigration. Sure Republicans have associated her Puerto Rican background and 'wise Latina' comment as automatic assumption that she will be an immigrant sympathizer. Lou Dobbs on CNN called Sotomayor a “racist” and her nomination “pure pandering to the Hispanics.” However, her track record actually shows that she is average on immigration cases.

From the Washington Independent:

In fact, a far more comprehensive analysis by Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) office analyzing Sotomayor’s entire record on immigration as a district court and court of appeals judge reveals that she ruled for the immigrant petitioner in cases before her only 8 percent of the time. In asylum cases, she ruled for the asylum applicant 17 percent of the time – which is the average rate for asylum cases in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Schumer’s office examined 955 rulings from Sotomayor’s 17 years on the federal bench.

“These findings should put to rest any doubts about Judge Sotomayor’s fidelity to the rule of law,” Schumer said in a statement accompanying the release of his study in June. “Even in immigration cases, which would most test the so-called ‘empathy factor,’ Judge Sotomayor’s record is well within the judicial mainstream.”

Indeed, some on the left have criticized Sotomayor for being too conservative on immigration cases. In a recent piece in Mother Jones, “The Progressive Case Against Sotomayor,” James Ridgeway noted that her record in immigration matters is nothing for progressives to cheer about. Ridgeway ridiculed Schumer for boasting that Sotomayor had ruled against asylum petitioners claiming they’d be persecuted back home 83 percent of the time.

“In other words,” wrote Ridgeway, “being a Latina doesn’t make Sotomayor any more compassionate toward immigrants who face torture and death when we ship them back home.”

But for the most part, Sotomayor’s conservative record in immigration cases has been largely ignored by her biggest supporters – including those ordinarily concerned with justice for Latinos, who have generally focused more on the symbolism of her nomination than the substance of her opinions.

An ACLU report on the Sotomayor nomination has similarly found that as a judge in immigration cases, Sotomayor “has taken an even-handed approach, applying caselaw and other authorities with care and holding courts and administrative agencies to proper legal standards and procedures.” That’s the same sort of evaluation Sotomayor has received for her rulings in other areas of law. As a Second Court Circuit judge, she has generally sided with the government, opting for a broad reading of criminal statutes even where the statutory text or legislative history permitted a narrower construction, the report found.

During the hearings, Senator Dick Durbin asked Judge Sotomayor about her views about the decision-making of the immigration courts, as well as whether she agreed with Judge Richard Posner's criticisms of the immigration courts and Board of Immigration Appeals. Judge Sotomayor was cautious, as can be expected.

Here is a fuller text of the discussion between Judge Sotomayor and Senator Schumer on the topic of immigration.