What's Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor's Online Casino Stance?
President Brack Obama nominated US Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court Tuesday morning. Among the many questions that came up about the prospective Justice's views is what does her past judicial history indicate about her views on online gambling and Internet casinos.
Sotomayor has already presided over a case crucial to the NFL, one of the staunchest opponents of online gambling. When Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams sued to strike the collectively bargained rule regarding age requirements to join the NFL, Sotomayor ruled in favor of the league.
She found that the union was within its rights to protect members' jobs from non-members, but also refused to "fashion an antitrust exemption" for either the NFL or its players.
Sotomayor's private practice as an intellectual rights attorney, at which she guarded the legal property rights over intangible assets of her clients, may also put her in a sympathetic position to the National Football League and other sports organizations attempting to prevent sports betting sites from using game results.
But such connections seem outweighed by a sense of pragmatism in her decisions. The American Bar Association Journal labels her a centrist politically, and important rulings display more realism and less ideology than many, says legal commentator Louis Sagel.
“I don’t think you want robots on the bench. I think you want people who understand how laws affect everyday Americans,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
Gaming insiders say they'd be happy with a pragmatic judge who values real-life results over zealotry, so they give Sotomayor a guarded nod.
