Secret Democratic ploy to end two-party system -- Hatch says healthcare will make voters trust Dems

Utah Republican Orrin Hatch has a reputation as a classy conservative.

A trusted voice for right-wing causes, he is a stalwart foe of abortion who voted against Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. But Hatch, a Mormon, is also part of what might be called the Civil Caucus in Congress, often pairing up on legislation with liberal Ted Kennedy, supporting stem cell research, immigration reform and a DREAM Act that would allow children of illegal immigrants to attend college.

So it came as something of a surprise to hear Hatch, in an interview Monday night with Cybercast News Service, attribute the Obama White House passion for healthcare to a ploy by the Democratic Party to take over the political system. He seemed to suggest that healthcare reform will be so popular that Americans will come to rely on Democrats to keep it coming.

Take a listen and let us know what you think.

The 75-year-old Hatch also said he thought the Democrats' healthcare reform was unconstitutional, arguing that if the federal government can force Americans to buy health insurance “then there is literally nothing the federal government can’t force us to do.”

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Hatch and Kennedy confer during a 1987 hearing on the minimum wage. Credit: Terry Ash /T ime & Life Pictures / Getty Images

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Lindsey Graham tagged as a 'traitor' for backing climate change legislation -- those angry tea-party protesters are back

Those angry town hall meetings are back.

Last night, at a forum at Furman University, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was pilloried by protesters for his decision to back Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and for his support for climate change legislation.

During the 75-minute event, one man told Graham he had “betrayed” conservatism and made a “pact with the devil” by working with Democrats, and asked when the senator planned to change parties.

This is Lindsey Graham we're talking about, best friend and constant companion of the Republican Party's 2008 standard-bearer, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

The troubles all started Sunday, when Graham co-wrote an Op-Ed article with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry in the New York Times called "Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation)," which talked about their campaign to corral bipartisan support for climate change legislation.

As Graham has said elsewhere, "I think the planet is heating up. I think CO2 emissions are damaging the environment and this dependence on foreign oil is a natural disaster in the making."

Maybe what really ticked off the conservatives was when Graham argued that the problem should be addressed as soon as possible -- even if the solution helps the Democrats politically. "I'd like to solve a problem, and if it's on President Obama's watch, it doesn't bother me one bit, if it makes the country better off."

Easily reelected in 2008, Graham has a few years to recover his base.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Sonia Sotomayor's first Supreme Court class photo here

If there was ever any doubt, today's class photo -- an annual ritual of the Supreme Court -- makes if official. Sonia Sotomayor is in the picture, the 111th justice, the third woman and the first Latino on the high court. She's also President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.

In the photo, Sotomayor is standing behind two of the court's most conservative members -- Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas -- on the far right of the picture. No one expects her to vote that way.

Meanwhile, the New York Times is reporting that the Supreme Court's docket has plummeted from about 150 cases a year in the 1980s to half that now. The primary reason, according to a Yale Law School conference, is that newer justices tend to vote to hear appeals less frequently.

We'll see what the newest justice has to say about that.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credit: Associated Press

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Sonia Sotomayor is a rightie! Did Obama know?

All those days of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee (not to mention The Ticket's transcripts) — with the questions about judicial philosophy and court precedents and sometimes-not-so-subtle partisan viewpoints — and not one of those high-paid legislators on either side last summer thought to ask would-be, now-actual Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor which way she throws.

Yes, duh, like a girl. But which hand? Is she like the president who nominated her — a leftie, in more ways than one?

And not one of those Southern conservatives uncovered that the nation's 111th justice and first Hispanic is a Yankee, born and bred.

Well, today, folks, we found out. The Bronx-born Sotomayor is a lifelong fan of the American League team with the owner who spends money on salaries like a drunken Democrat in D.C.

Today Sotomayor threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the team's game against some guys from Boston (imagine if it had been Obama's team with the other colored sox).

The newest Supreme Court justice looked pretty excited, unlike the crewcut guys standing around her watching the crowd so closely.

No, Sotomayor didn't wear her judicial robe. Yes, they let her creep up on the plate a good deal. And she should probably keep her day job. But the justice got the ball there, a little outside the strike zone. And she got a Bronx cheer -- and gave a wave back with all fingers.

See how she did on the video below. Then click on the "Continued" line to see the president's delivery from the other side.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Sotomayor's first words in first Supreme Court argument

The case involved Hillary Clinton (the movie), the future of campaign finance reform and the sanctity of the 1st Amendment guarantee of free speech. Just the usual fodder for a Supreme Court tasked with being the last appeal for all causes, from all corners.

There were a few firsts.

Elena Kagan made her first argument at the high court as solicitor general, presenting the government's case that the movie was a campaign ad and therefore subject to regulation by the nation's campaign finance laws.

She was facing off against a former solicitor general, Theodore Olson, who was arguing that those laws violate the 1st Amendment rights of corporations and unions by banning them from political speech. "Why is it easier to dance naked, burn a flag or wear a T-shirt profanely opposing the draft," Olson said in July at the conservative Federalist Society, "than it is to advocate the election or defeat of a president? That cannot be right."

The case is so pivotal -- and so potentially tumultuous to decades of campaign finance law -- that the justices returned from their summer recess three weeks early to hear arguments.

And the case could be decided by two justices appointed by George W. Bush -- Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. -- who may have to choose between personal views and court precedents.

But no matter all of that.

Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina justice and the first high court appointment by President Obama, spoke her first words. And the world took note.

By all accounts, she jumped right into questioning. She appeared skeptical of arguments by Citizens United that the conservative group's 90-minute campaign-era movie about Clinton ("Not a musical comedy," observed Justice Stephen Breyer) was protected speech. And she questioned Olson about why he had abandoned a former argument -- that Citizens United was not really a corporation -- for a more sweeping one, that campaign funding restrictions discriminate against corporations.

Upbraided by several Republican senators during her confirmation hearings about the importance of respecting court precedents, she asked Olson why he seemed so intent on toppling it in this case. Her first words:

Mr. Olson, are you giving up on your earlier arguments that there are ways to avoid the constitutional question to resolve this case? I know that we asked for further briefing on this particular issue of overturning two of our Court's precedents. But are you giving up on your earlier arguments that there are statutory interpretations that would avoid the constitutional question?

His answer: No.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Getty Images

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Laura Bush, Newt Gingrich endorse Obama's school talk to kids. Gee, indoctrination must be working.

President Obama's back-to-school speech -- derided by conservative critics as an attempt to impart socialism to the nation's impressionable youngsters -- is (finally) winning some high-profile endorsements from the right.

Former First Lady Laura Bush told CNN, "There's a place for the president of the United States to talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren" to stay in school.

Embedded video from CNN Video

In an interview with CNN from Paris, where she is part of a U.N. mission on global literacy, Bush praised Obama for doing a good job but faulted the Education Department for issuing lesson plans suggesting that kids write letters on how they could help Obama, guidance since rescinded.

The former schoolteacher and librarian also said she hopes parents will echo the president and "encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dream that they have."

Even more telling, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- a conservative running for president who initially called Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor a racist -- has come round on this one.

In interviews on Fox News and on the "Today" show, Gingrich called the White House "smart" for releasing the transcript Monday (see earlier Ticket post) and called on students everywhere to listen up.

Obama, for his part, may welcome the dust-up. After all, it may be easier to deflect conspiratorialists who see socialism in stay-in-school messages than those who see death panels in healthcare reform.

As he tells the kids today, "Being successful is hard. Don't let failures define you."

-- Johanna Neuman

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 'No words can adequately express what I am feeling'

The first Latino Supreme Court justice was introduced today by the first African American president of the United States at a White House that has seen so many firsts in the last few months historians may some day marvel at the speed of change.

Both of them teared up.

At a reception in the East Room honoring Sonia Sotomayor, the newest Supreme Court justice, President Obama said, "We're here not just to celebrate our extraordinary new Supreme Court justice. We're here to celebrate an extraordinary moment for our nation…. We celebrate the greatness of a nation in which such a story is possible.''

With a host of activists, officials and relatives looking on -- including New York Gov. David Paterson, New York Dist. Atty. Robert Morgenthau and Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens -- Obama talked about how Sotomayor has already influenced Americans.

"It's not just about her," Obama said. "It's about every child who will grow up thinking to his or herself, 'If Sonia Sotomayor can make it, then maybe I can too.' "

But it was really the court's new, 111th justice who stole the show.

No longer in the brightly colored jackets of her confirmation hearings but dressed all in black, Sotomayor said that "no words can adequately express what I am feeling." Thanking her family and her colleagues, the president and the Senate, she said, "I am so grateful to all of you for this extraordinary opportunity."

But she gave most of the credit to America. Saying she was "struck by the wonder of my life," Sotomayor added, "I am most grateful to....

Roberts gets two chances today to administer oath to Sotomayor

Today, when Sonia Sotomayor becomes the 111th justice in the history of the Supreme Court, she will be sworn in by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. And not just once -- twice.

But this time, the double oaths will be intentional.

You may recall that Roberts had to administer the oath office to President Obama two times. At Obama’s inauguration in January, Roberts stumbled over the opening words of the inaugural oath, and Obama repeated them, incorrectly.

The goof: Roberts misplaced the word "faithfully." The Constitution says the president must solemnly swear "that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States." But on Jan. 20, Obama said, "I will execute the office of president of the United States faithfully."

Just to quell complaints (was that the first sign of birther conspiracy theories?), Obama took the oath again -- correctly -- a day later.

Roberts gets two chances today with Sotomayor. At about 8 a.m. Pacific Time, she will repeat an oath prescribed by the Constitution in a private ceremony. Later, in a ceremony with family, friends and cameras present, Robert will administer a second oath, taken by judges.

We presume that if Roberts garbles either oath, the third time will be the charm. Stay tuned to latimes.com for coverage of the ceremony.

-- Steve Padilla

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Photo: John G. Roberts Jr. Credit: Associated Press

It's official: Sotomayor is nation's first Latino on Supreme Court

With the newest senator, Minnesota Democrat Al Franken, presiding, the Senate today confirmed the historic nomination of federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor on a 68-31 vote.

The first Latino, the third woman, the third person of color and the 111th justice to serve on the nation's highest court, Sotomayor will be sworn in at the Supreme Court on Saturday by Chief Justice G. John Roberts Jr.

In keeping with the historic significance of the moment, senators took the rare step of assembling at their desks on the Senate floor, rising from their seats to cast their votes. Still, that sense of occasion didn't stop most Republicans from voting against her.

"A remarkable thing in our history," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). "This is the American dream."

President Obama, who nominated Sotomayor as his first Supreme Court pick, thanked the Judiciary Committee for conducting "a thorough and civil hearing . . . in a timely manner." Declaring that he was "filled with pride in this achievement and great confidence" that Sotomayor would succeed, Obama said her confirmation ensures that the phrase "equal justice under the law" is not merely inscribed on the courthouse door but respected inside the courtroom.

Now, as Ticket reported earlier, Sotomayor can start shopping for real estate in Washington.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credit: Associated Press

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Sotomayor strolls streets of New York, looking like cover of 'Abbey Road' [Updated]

Just after 3 p.m. today, the Senate confirmed federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor as the 111th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, making her the third woman and first Latino to sit on the nation's highest court.

Sotomayor watched the debate from her office in New York.

For the last few weeks, ever since her high-profile confirmation hearings in Washington, Sotomayor has been quietly back in New York, visiting her courtroom office, taking clerks to lunch, surrounded by a security detail. TMZ, the Los Angeles-based celebrity gossip website, caught her walking in TriBeCa last week and treated her like, well, a celebrity.

"What do you think of Rosie Perez playing you in a movie?" shouted the website's reporter. The judge -- in black blazer and top, white pants and white sneakers, graduated from the crutches that became part of her uniform after a fall on Capitol Hill -- threw back her head and laughed. Later the reporter got very excited about Sotomayor crossing the street, calling it his video's "Abbey Road" moment."

Meanwhile, back in Washington, real estate agents are speculating -- salivating? -- over prospects that Sotomayor will soon need a place to live there. Georgetown Realtor Gay Pirozzi, herself a former New Yorker, said Sotomayor is arriving "just at right time -- not only for politics but the market is great." Besides, said the Coldwell Banker agent, "everybody wants her in their neighborhood." 

-- Johanna Neuman

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