Obama Pundit

by Hector N. Fertig
William, regardless of who was at fault, Didden or his lawyer, once the statute of limitations expired Didden’s cause of action was lost according to Sotomayor.  At some point during this whole affair, he had two legal theories available to him:
1. That the taking was wrongful due to pretext, in the sense [...]

by Obama Pundit
A lot is being bandied back and forth over this comment by Obama’s SCOTUS nominee:
I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.
This has prompted Newt Gingrich and others to [...]

by C. William Chattin
Hector, the parties in Didden submitted their briefing materials to the Second Circuit before Kelo was handed down; but, the Court (Sotomayor) - properly, in my estimation - waited until months after Kelo to issue the Didden decision.  Thus, the attorneys for Didden didn’t have the benefit of knowing what governing standard would be applied to their challenge [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
William, I agree that the analysis presented was short, it is not clear to me what more you would have her say on the property rights issue.
Your reading of Justice Stevens’ majority opinion is correct regarding the ‘mere pretext’ standard, but I think it is largely irrelevant.  The question wasn’t whether or [...]

by C. William Chattin
Hector, with regard to the statute of limitations predicate, I will assume, without checking, that Sotomayor got that portion of the opinion, and, thus, the actual result, correct.  However, because she weighed into the constitutional issue with more than mere dicta, she provided a legally-binding, alternative holding of the Court…on a very dicey issue [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
William, the McDonald’s analogy was broken out as a second point as it was not intended to address the role of Appellate Courts or how appellate proceedings work, but rather the language used in your summary of Didden.  For example:
Wasser told Didden that he would approve the project only if Didden paid [...]

by C. William Chattin
Hector, I want to address/clarify the points you raised below.
At the appellate level, and for purposes of review, the facts of a particular case have generally been stipulated to, and are a matter of record.  True, some hidden, smoking-gun fact(s) may undermine the criticism of a controversial decision.  But, the judge who authors an appellate decision will include in her opinion facts [...]