Providing compassionate, wise services in family law and consumer bankruptcy

A statement being made in this video is being taken out of context to paint Judge Sotomayor as an “activist judge” (a term that has no meaning in the real world, because, as the quote below indicates, all judges make law):

Cases get appealed to the Circuit Court level for one reason: because the answer to the question being litigated is not clear. When the law is clear, no one bothers to appeal (because it’s really expensive). A Court of Appeals grapples with the difficult questions, the gray areas in the law, and ultimately issues rulings one way or the other. These rulings then become the policy of that particular circuit, serving as controlling precedent in future cases. This is just as true in the ultra-conservative Fourth Circuit as it is the more liberal Ninth Circuit.

via The Anonymous Liberal: More Republican Judicial Clowning.