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Okay, so at the moment, environmental issues aren't what you likely think of when you think about Supreme Court Justice Nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Maybe you think of the word 'empathy' or of certain loudmouths calling her 'reverse racist' or about white firefighters. But it's time to start thinking green—60 of the nation's top environmental and conservation groups, including EarthJustice, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and the National Wildlife Federation, have drafted a letter voicing their support for Sotomayor.
And it's not because she's an ardent pro-environment activist, either. In fact, it's nearly the contrary. The groups have written their endorsement because they've surveyed her judicial record and found that she's fair, measured, and thorough in her decisions. In fact, she has a pretty sparse environmental record that's tough for greens to get excited about: one complicated ruling involving the Clean Water Act. From EarthJustice (pdf):In her most significant environmental case she wrote a careful 80-page opinion upholding critical Clean Water Act safeguards. A divided Supreme Court eventually overturned the only ruling that was appealed—that the Clean Water Act precluded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from using cost-benefit analysis to determine "best technology available" to protect fish from power plant water intakes.
So yeah, that's pretty much all there is to go on if you're trying to figure out how 'green' Sotomayor really is. It's not much. But that's part of what could make her a great justice—no sense of her own agenda or biases are evident in her rulings. She could be the world's biggest treehugger for all we know, or the world's biggest lover of coal and baby seal-clubbing. What we get is a fastidiously prepared 80 page opinion.
"Judge Sotomayor’s record evinces no clear bias in favor of or against environmental claims," the groups wrote in the letter. "Instead, it reflects intellectual rigor, meticulous preparation, and fairness. Her record demonstrates a consistently balanced and thoughtful review of complex legal issues. She has interpreted and applied the laws as Congress intended and safeguarded constitutional rights."
Basically, there's a reason 60 green groups who represent millions of members have decided that Sotomayor is the right woman for the job—read their letter, and see if you can get behind her too.
Read the full endorsement over at Earthjustice.
*There's a new Patriotism brewing in America, and it's got green written all over it: Patriotism 2.0.
More on Sonia Sotomayor and the Supreme Court:
Are We Wishfully Seeing Green in Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor
Supreme Court Shock : Ruling Says Lethal Mining Waste Can Be Dumped in Lakes
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