The Audacity of Hypocrisy: Mike Huckabee Says Appointing "Maria" Sotomayor Will Lead to an "Extreme Court"

I will assume that Mike Huckabee meant to say "Sonia," rather than "Maria," in the original version of his diatribe condemning Obama's decision to nominate Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice. But it is really difficult to escape the irony of Huckabee calling Sotomayor an extremist.

Huckabee blasts Obama for picking Sotomayor, arguing that:

Sotomayor comes from the far left and will likely leave us with something akin to the "Extreme Court" that could mark a major shift. The notion that appellate court decisions are to be interpreted by the "feelings" of the judge is a direct affront of the basic premise of our judicial system that is supposed to apply the law without personal emotion. If she is confirmed, then we need to take the blindfold off Lady Justice.

Oh, the melodrama! I do not accept Huckabee's characterization of Sotomayor's judicial philosophy. Nevertheless, I will hold aside my objections in order to focus on Minister Huckabee's deep hypocrisy.

Huckabee claims that appointing Sotomayor will bring bias and extremism to the Court. But his own views of the Constitution are far more dangerous and unjustifiable than anything in Sotomayor's background. During the 2008 Republican primaries, Huckabee made an interesting argument about the Constitution. He said that it should be amended to comply with "God's standards":

[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards. . . .

Huckabee has the audacity to call Sotomayor an extremist, but he wants to undo over two centuries of constitutional law that precludes the establishment of religion. I will take Sotomayor's "empathy" and proven record of accomplishment over Huckabee's desire to amend the Constitution in order to impose his view of "God's standards" upon the rest of the country. As my colleague Professor Jamie Raskin so aptly stated, replying to a fellow Maryland State Senator who invoked the Bible in order to oppose same-sex marriage:

"People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution. They don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

Huckabee could learn a lot from Raskin.