Yeah, she’s got the same view as the person she’s replacing. Big surprise.

I’m actually interested to hear the net of the written opinions. Did the court reverse precedent, or did they determine that the Appeals Court misinterpreted precedent? It’s an important distinction. If they reversed precedent, then effectively they aren’t suggesting that Sotomayor got it wrong. However, if they determined that the precedent was misinterpreted then they’re saying that both the Circuit and Appellate courts got the decision wrong.
I suspect the later, but, the Robert’s court has actually been one of the more “activist” courts in SC history…so, it’s conceivable that they reversed precedent.

I’m not a lawyer and haven’t read the opinion, so of course i’m just as qualified as anybody else in commenting on the decision. The answer to your question is no, the majority did not reverse precedent, because that would constitute “activism,” and I have it on good authority that Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas are not activist judges — on the contrary, they faithfully interpret the law according to the original intent of the framers — although the opinion was written by Kennedy, who has been known to dabble in activism and even cite foreign law (!!) at times.