Rather: Sotomayor Would Be 'Very Good' Supreme Court Justice

June 29th, 2009 12:02 PM

As Dan Rather sees it and decrees it, Sonia Sotomayor will make a fine Supreme Court justice. So the former CBS Evening News anchor told MSNBC's Carlos Watson this morning. The pair were discussing the impact of the high court's reversal today of Sotomayor's pro-affirmative action ruling in the New Haven firefighters case.

In Rather's opinion, while Sotomayor would have preferred the Supreme Court to rule the other way, her confirmation will nonetheless sail through, and once she ascends to the bench, she will be "a very good" Supreme Court justice.

DAN RATHER: I think she will sail through. She would rather that this decision not go this way. Again, I think that Pete [Williams] made a very good point, that she ruled on what the law was, what the precedent was, at the time. Now the Supreme Court has set a new bar about this business of a city doing things for fear of being sued. But when all is said and done she's going to be confirmed, she'll be a Supreme Court justice, and in my personal opinion, clearly labeled, I think she'd be a very good one.

If only Rather had been so scrupulous in labelling his personal opinions as such back in his Evening News days . . .