Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's nominee for U.S. Supreme Court justice, could balance a court that has historically ruled against environmental organizations, UC Berkeley law professors said in a panel Tuesday.

Sotomayor, whose hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee begins July 13, became the topic of conversation during a public web cast sponsored by Boalt Hall's Center for Law, Energy & the Environment.

Sotomayor could potentially add an environmentally friendly voice to the Supreme Court and counter the court's recent precedence of siding with corporations instead of the environmental organizations that sue them, said panel member Dan Farber, professor and faculty co-director of the center.

"We know that she's at least able to take the environmental side when it fits with the law," Farber said, "I guess the question is will she be assertive in opinion writing?"

Sotomayor, who is currently a federal judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, was heavily involved in the 2004 case Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, Inc., which challenged the way Entergy Corp. cooled its power plants by taking water from rivers and lakes, the panel said.

After Sotomayor sided with the environmental group Riverkeeper Inc., who won the appellate court case, she authored a letter to the Supreme Court to show her support for the group.

The appellate court's decision was later reversed by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court has rarely sided on behalf of the environmental organizations, Farber said.

He added that Supreme Court Justices John Roberts, Stephen Breyer and John Stevens, in particular, have been known to consistently vote against the organizations.

Sotomayor's presence might not be enough to change the overall opinions toward environmental cases, said Holly Doremus, a professor at the UC Davis School of Law.

Environmental cases often take a back seat, not necessarily because of the Supreme Court justices, but because of the presidential administration, Doremus said.

In Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, environmental organizations challenged the U.S. Navy's sonar testing program, which the groups said could harm marine life.

"(This) presented a clash between military preparedness and environmental protection," Doremus said.

Although the environmental organizations argued that the sonar testing could do harm to aquatic organisms, "(the case) obtained an exemption from Bush under the Coastal Zone Act," she said.

Farber said that Sotomayor would be in favor of environmental organizations within the Supreme Court, but could not vouch for how Sotomayor's opinions would be received.

"A lot depends on the future," Farber said. "(But) the character of the court could change quite a bit."

Tags: BOALT HALL, SOTOMAYOR