CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
July 13, 2009 – 8:28 p.m.
GOP Ready to Get to Specifics on Sotomayor
By Seth Stern and Keith Perine, CQ Staff
Republicans will pivot from a thematic critique to specific lines of attack on Tuesday when Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor faces a first round of questioning from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In their opening statements on Monday, the panel’s seven Republicans outlined concerns about the role of judges and whether Sotomayor could put aside her background and personal beliefs if confirmed to the high court.
Now, Republicans will cite excerpts from the nominee’s speeches, her affiliation with a Latino legal advocacy group and, to a lesser extent, her rulings during 17 years as a federal judge in an effort to validate their concerns.
“Judge Sotomayor, we will inquire into how your philosophy, which allows subjectivity in the courtroom, affects your decision-making,” Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the committee’s ranking Republican, said during his opening statement Monday.
Sessions made clear he and his colleagues are going to focus at least as much on Sotomayor’s life off the bench as they are on her judicial record.
Sessions’ aides distributed five of Sotomayor’s speeches in which she suggested that “wise” women generally or Latinas in particular might make better decisions than a white male judge. She repeated the comment in each of the speeches, delivered between 1994 and 2003.
They also handed out four documents submitted by LatinoJustice PRLDEF that the GOP argues show Sotomayor was intimately involved in the activities of the advocacy group.
Republicans will use Sotomayor’s speeches to ask her what Charles E. Grassley , R-Iowa, said was “your views of how a judge should use his or her background and experiences when deciding cases.”
But Democrats said they will vigorously rebut suggestions Sotomayor is incapable of putting aside her personal views.
“As we will hear in the next few days, Judge Sotomayor puts rule of law above everything else,” said Charles E. Schumer , D-N.Y. “Given her extensive and evenhanded record, I am not sure how any member of this panel can sit here today and seriously suggest that she comes to the bench with a personal agenda.”
Promoting a Broader Agenda
But for Republicans, the confirmation hearing is as much about articulating the Republican view of how judges should perform their duties as it is an attempt to trip up Sotomayor or even derail her nomination.
In fact, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham predicted during his opening statement that “unless you have a complete meltdown, you’re going to get confirmed,” before adding, “I don’t think you will.”
The political challenge for the Republicans will be making their case about Sotomayor’s record and how it might affect the Supreme Court without appearing to be attacking the nominee because she is Hispanic or female.
In her opening statement, Sotomayor, 55, showed she is likely to hew to the strategy employed successfully by past nominees of answering questions while saying as little as possible. She tried defusing questions about her judicial philosophy during her opening statement.
“Simple: fidelity to the law,” Sotomayor said. “The task of a judge is not to make law. It is to apply the law.”
But Sessions said that answer did not ease concerns her speeches have generated. “If that had been her statement over the last 15 years, we’d have a lot less problems,” Sessions said after the hearing.
Not all the questions will focus on issues of racial bias or discrimination. Republicans also made clear they intend to press Sotomayor about her views on gun rights; whether the Supreme Court, or any American court, should cite international law in its decision-making; and property rights.
Abortion, a hot-button issue in Supreme Court confirmation hearings since the Sandra Day O’Connor nomination in 1981 and the subject of four protesters who shouted comments Monday, is not expected to be a major topic during Sotomayor’s confirmation. Sotomayor has a limited record on the subject and her few abortion-related cases do not offer enough evidence to predict how she would rule as a justice.
Democrats, who outnumber Republicans on the panel 12-7, made it clear they are going to continue to defend Sotomayor’s background and qualifications. They are also not going to leave unanswered GOP charges that Sotomayor’s past suggests she is unable to be an impartial judge.
“At this point, perhaps we should all accept that the best definition of a judicial activist is a judge who decides a case in a way you don’t like,” said Russ Feingold , D-Wis.
At the White House, Press Secretary Roberts Gibbs defended Sotomayor as “somebody who has been praised by Democrats and Republicans, that follows the law when making judgments.”
“I think a fair reading after these hearings for members of the Senate and for the public will be for them to understand that as well,” Gibbs said.
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