re: #334 zombie

Z— I’ve argued cases to various U.S. Courts of Appeals, including the Third Circuit (N.J., Del., and PA). The U.S. Supreme Court only accepts 1% or less of appeals from decisions of those courts. As a practical matter, that means that the decisions of the Courts of Appeals often are final. It also means that cases in which Sotomayor has been reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court are a tiny fraction of all of her decisions.

Most reported cases decided by a U.S. Court of Appeals make policy for a region. By “policy”, I mean construction of some important statute, or of the U.S. Constitution. Sometimes courts of appeals disagree among themselves on important policy matters. That’s when the U.S. Supreme Court often intervenes. I saw the video clip of Sotomayor referring to “policy”. The only way that remark could embarrass her is if the “policy” decided by the court is inconsistent with the statute or the U.S. Constitution.