David Cone on Judge Sotomayor

Former MLB pitcher David Cone testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nominate of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. The video of the full day can be found on the Committee Website. Cone's statement, discussing Sotomayor's decision in the 1995 baseball labor dispute that essentially ended the 1994 strike (and, in Cone's words, "saved baseball") begins at 461:30.

I would argue that calling Cone to testify was wrong for the same reason I thought it was wrong to call New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci to testify. Successful or unsuccessful litigants cannot really tell us anything meaningful about the judge's legal ability or qualifications to be on a higher court. Cone thinks Sotomayor is great because she agreed with the players' union's claims; Ricci not so much, because she disagreed with his claims.

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