GOP Wont Filibuster Sotomayor Republican Senator Says
WASHINGTONQuestions stemming from Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s past speeches generated more controversy in her Supreme Court confirmation hearings Thursday, with one GOP senator saying some of her remarks “bug the hell out of me.”
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor greets Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, Thursday.
In a potential sign of Sotomayor’s strong political momentum, however, Senate Republicans indicated they do not intend to filibuster her nomination on the Senate floor. They also indicated the full Senate would vote on her nomination before breaking for its August recess. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on the fourth day of the hearing that he would oppose any filibuster attempt and that he looked forward to a full Senate vote on Sotomayor before the August recess. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy said he plans to put a confirmation vote for Sotomayor on the committee’s calendar for Tuesday. “She is a good person, [with] a wonderful background,” Sessions told CNN, but he continued to express concerns that she will be an activist for liberal causes on the Supreme Court. “You’ve said some things that have bugged the hell out of me,” South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham told Sotomayor shortly after the start of the day’s session. Watch Graham size up Sotomayor » “Your speeches are disturbing, particularly to conservatives. … Those speeches to me suggested gender and racial affiliations in a way that a lot of us wonder, will you take that line of thinking to the Supreme Court in these cases of first precedent.”
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But, Graham also said, “to be honest with you, your record as a judge has not been radical by any means. … You have, I think, consistently, as an advocate, took a point of view that was left of center. You have, as a judge, been generally in the mainstream.” Graham defended the importance of probing Sotomayor’s political beliefs by highlighting the high court’s 1955 landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which mandated the desegregation of schools. The ruling was “instructive in the sense that the court pushed the country to do something politicians were not brave enough to do,” he said. “If I had been elected as a senator from South Carolina [in 1955], I would be amazed if I would have had the courage” to support that ruling, he admitted. Watch Sotomayor’s record on discrimination » The personal views of Supreme Court justices matter, he argued, because “you’re not going to find a law book that tells you” how to rule on contentious social issues such as same-sex marriage or whether there is a “fundamental” right to bear arms. Sotomayor later fired back at the Republican line of questioning, asking Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, if he wanted a judge who decided cases before hearing the evidence and facts. “Would you want a judge or nominee who came in here and said, ‘I agree with you, this is unconstitutional,’ before I had a case before me?” Sotomayor said, adding: “I don’t think that’s a justice I can be.” She noted that the Supreme Court spends considerable time on cases, including Second Amendment cases involving gun controlan issue Republicans have repeatedly emphasized during her confirmation hearings. Sotomayor repeated that the Constitution and facts of the case would be the basis of her rulings.
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Turning to a different issue, she also expressed a belief that the high court could increase its workload. “It does appear that the Supreme Court docket has lessened over time,” Sotomayor said in response to a question from Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pennsylvania. “Because of that, it does appear it has the capacity to take on more cases.” According to Specter, the Supreme Court decided 451 cases in 1886, with 161 signed opinions in 1985. In the 2008-2009 session that ended recently, there were 75 signed opinions. Some Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee have complained that the Supreme Court in recent years has effectively ruled on vital issues by refusing to hear them.
Committee Republicans once again examined Sotomayor’s controversial statement that a “wise Latina” could reach a better decision than a white man. Asked what she would say to people offended by her remarks, Sotomayor said that she regrets that she has “offended some people. I believe that my life demonstrates that that was not my intent to leave the impression that some have taken from my words.”
Source:CNN
