The Stuart Taylor Standard
A great catch from Scott Lemieux who takes a look into the archives to see how National Journal legal affairs columnist Stuart Taylor thought we should evaluate Samuel Alito:
Alito’s critics have similarly ignored much evidence that his 15 years of steady, scholarly, precedent-respecting work as a judge tell us more about him than a handful of widely (and misleadingly) publicized memos that he wrote more than 20 years ago.
But what about Sonia Sotomayor?
And some may see Sotomayor’s [innocuous] letter [written as an undergraduate] as evidence that she was predisposed to look for the worst, not the best, in the institution that had afforded her such opportunities. She now sits on Princeton’s Board of Trustees.
As Scott says “if I understand correctly, memos Alito wrote directly about important constitutional issues while applying for an important government job should be disregarded, but letters that Sotomayor wrote as a student are somehow important despite their utter lack of relevance to any discernible constitutional issue.”
20 Responses to “The Stuart Taylor Standard”
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June 1st, 2009 at 10:55 am
Never interfere with the enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself.
June 1st, 2009 at 10:57 am
You see, Sam Alito does not have lady parts or an illegal immigrant name, nor does he have any connection whatsoever to the Democratic Party. Therefore he deserved an immediate up or down vote.
June 1st, 2009 at 10:58 am
Never interfere with the enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself.
Yeah, but we can still laugh and point, right? OH NOES STUDENT ACTIVISM.
June 1st, 2009 at 10:59 am
Damn,
That’s a good catch. I’d like to see Taylor defend himself on this.
June 1st, 2009 at 11:18 am
I’d like to see Taylor defend himself on this.
And I’d like to see him dismissed with laughter in any publication with a circulation over 1,000. But ain’t life tough.
June 1st, 2009 at 11:24 am
That’s not strictly true–why, Sotomayor’s letter obejcting to vandalization of gay students’ aparments give us a clear indication of how she would vote on pending issues about the constitutionality of laws banning vandalizing gay students’ apartments! We all know, the very first thing Hitler did when he took power was stop people from vandalizing gay students’ apartments–Sotormayor’s letter is a clear example of liberal facism!
June 1st, 2009 at 11:33 am
First, has there ever been a decent punditry piece ever written with the “some say” formulation? Second, paying attention to what a middle aged person wrote as an undergraduate is really dumb.
June 1st, 2009 at 11:41 am
Does Top Gear count when they’re introducing The Stig?
June 1st, 2009 at 11:46 am
I think there is some kind of Princeton graduate anti-Sonia thing going on. Taylor and other alumni from the University apparently are vindictive since the Judge did not simply accept the power structure when she went there.
June 1st, 2009 at 11:49 am
The comments to his latest anti-Sotomayer post are pretty hilarious, though. Not a single comment expressing a shred of sympathy for Taylor’s ridiculous double standard.
Does he even think about who reads his crap?
June 1st, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Re Stuart Taylor
Mr. Taylor was right about the Duke lacrosse players not being guilty of the rape charges, proving only that even a stopped clock is right twice a day. It should be recalled that fucktard Taylor was a big proponent of impeaching former President Clinton, showing him to be a fucking fascist asshole.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:32 pm
It’s like the situation where Democrats imprison any boss who is merely friendly flirting with his secretary while elevating a serial rapist and criminal to the highest office in the land.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Note – Taylor has often marketed himself as a Democrat and
during Clinton’s impeachment he was often quoted
in the context:
” … even the liberal Democrat Stu Taylor thinks Clinton
should be destroyed over Monica …”
This game is getting old. Even the New Republic will
admit that some day.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:39 pm
That quote from Taylor that MY emphasized about Sotomoyor being “predisposed to look for the worst, not the best, in the institution that had afforded her such opportunities” made my head explode.
Does anyone doubt that Taylor would have told Rosa Parks and other black folks that they should have been thankful they were allowed on the bus at all and didn’t have to walk?
June 1st, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Well, when a legislative body’s attempt to remove a popular executive from office by tallying votes is labeled “fascist”, it is safe to say that the word “fascist” has lost all meaning. I say that as someone who had little opinion on the mastter at the time, other than to note that an executive who gets blown by the intern while a former subordinate is suing him for alleged misbehavior is really too stupid for words.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Re Anonymous
It’s like the situation where Democrats imprison any boss who is merely friendly flirting with his secretary while elevating a serial rapist and criminal to the highest office in the land.
It’s like a situation where fucktards like Mr. Anonymous write lying screeds on blogs.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Yes, Taylor’s piece is indeed an absurd right-wing talking point with no basis in reality.
You know where they imprison bosses for flirting? Right next to the WMDs. I hear they make them watch the Michelle Obama Whitey Tape over and over.
June 1st, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Hmmmm. She wrote a piece focusing on the “worst” as an undergraduate, and later became a prosecuting attorney. A connection, perhaps? nah.
June 1st, 2009 at 6:37 pm
This Stuart character sure is a leading light…not.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I hear they make them watch the Michelle Obama Whitey Tape over and over.
Let them eat yellowcake!