Sotomayor Is Approved To Become Nation's First Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court Justice! You Go Girl!

Politico, MSNBC----


(Its a Yes for Sotomayor! The New U.S. Supreme Court Justice.)



The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court on a sharp party-line vote, handing President Barack Obama a victory and putting the federal judge one step closer to becoming the nation’s first Latina justice.

Following a two-hour debate, the vote was 13-6, with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham the lone Republican joining all the committee’s Democrats in support of the nomination.

With the GOP vowing not to filibuster the nomination, the Senate is expected to confirm her to the bench as early as next week. And while her nomination is falling largely along party lines, the Judiciary Committee vote marks a much-needed victory for Democrats suffering through weeks of internal rancor over health care.

Graham stood alone among Republicans with his support.

“This is the first Latina woman in the history of the United States to be selected for the Supreme Court. Now that is a big deal,” Graham said. “I would not have chosen her, but I understand why President Obama did. I gladly give her my vote because I think she meets the qualifications test that was used in [Antonin] Scalia and [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg.”

But the nomination failed to win a big bipartisan majority in the Judiciary Committee, instead tracking along the usual party lines that the White House was hoping to avoid.

The 13-6 committee vote sets the stage for another partisan battle over the nominee that follows Sotomayor – especially if that pick would change the ideological balance of power on the court. Sotomayor would fill the seat vacated by Justice David Souter, considered to be one of the more liberal members of the court.

At Tuesday’s committee vote, Republicans said Sotomayor failed in her four days of testimony to answer questions about several speeches that they said suggest a judicial bias, including her infamous remark that a “wise Latina” could render a better judgment than a white male. At the hearings this month, Sotomayor expressed regret for her statement, and said that her 17-year record as a federal judge proves she puts fidelity to the law above anything else.

“Based on her record as a judge and her statements, I am not able to support her nomination,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), top Republican on the committee. “In speech after speech, year after year, Judge Sotomayor set forth a fully formed judicial philosophy that conflicts with American philosophy of blind justice to the law.”

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who in his six terms in the Senate has voted for every Supreme Court nominee he’s faced, said he examined her entire record “with the more exacting scrutiny appropriate for Supreme Court nominations.”

But in criticizing Sotomayor’s testimony, the GOP sought to repudiate Obama’s previous statements that a judge should consider “empathy” in his or her decision-making. In her testimony, Sotomayor said she does not empathize with those appearing before her in court.

“This radical empathy standard stands in stark opposition to what most of us understand to be the proper role of the judiciary,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), whose “no” vote against Sotomayor marks the first time he’s voted against a Supreme Court nominee in his 29 years in the Senate.

Democrats said that the GOP was unfairly treating the nominee, whose record senators from both sides have agreed is within the mainstream and who the American Bar Association has said is well qualified to serve on the high court.

“It’s interesting to me to hear the comments of those who will not vote for this judge; for me I look at her very differently – I look at her as a most impressive person on a number of different levels,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). “She has shown a dedication of the law, this has been tested and tested. ... I find no example of infidelity to the law.”

Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), pushed back hard against the Republican opposition.

“In her 17 years on the bench there is not one example, let alone a pattern, of her ruling based on bias or prejudice of sympathy,” said Leahy. “She has been true to her oath and faithfully and impartially performed her duties as set forth by the Constitution.”

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) voted for her nomination and called her well qualified. But he criticized the confirmation process, saying that nominees including Sotomayor have increasingly hid their views on a host of critical matters by saying they could not take a position on a matter that could come before the court.

“These hearings have become little more than theater,” Feingold said.

In his analysis of Sotomayor, Graham said she was well qualified, would not upset the ideological balance of the court and that Obama should have the latitude to choose a Supreme Court nominee.

And he said that he wanted to return to the days where senators simply gauged whether to vote for a nominee based on his or her qualifications – not extraneous and political factors.

“I do not want to set a standard here that people who are aspiring to be a judge will never have a thought, never take on an unpopular cause,” Graham said, referring to concerns over her speeches and her work with a Puerto Rican advocacy group before she became a judge. “It is OK to advocate a position that is different than we would advocate ourselves.”

Sotomayor will pick up a handful of Republican votes on the Senate floor next week, including that of Cuban-American Sen. Mel Martinez.

“As an Hispanic-American, it makes me immensely proud that there will be a Hispanic on the Supreme Court,” said Martinez. “That’s not why I decided to support Judge Sotomayor, but it does make me very proud to know that someone of my heritage will be sitting on the Court.”



Sources: Politico, MSNBC