Sotomayor’s Nomination Won’t Face Senate Filibuster (Update2)
By Cary O’Reilly and Vincent Del Giudice Last Updated: July 12, 2009 14:37 EDT
July 12 (Bloomberg) -- Senators from both political parties predicted Sonia Sotomayor won’t face a filibuster of her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court over Republican concerns about comments she has made on judicial neutrality.
Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, said on “Fox News Sunday” that he expects the nomination will get a straight up-or-down vote, and that he doesn’t think there will be an attempt at a filibuster. Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings begin tomorrow in Washington.
“I think she’ll be given a fair hearing,” Cornyn said. “We’re not going to filibuster Judge Sotomayor like the Democrats did Miguel Estrada.” Democrats blocked action on Estrada’s nomination to a federal appeals court in 2003.
Sotomayor, 55, will face questions from Republicans about her rulings and speeches, especially those where she’s appeared to question whether judges can be neutral, Cornyn said. He said he plans to ask her about her 2001 remark that she thought a “wise Latina” could reach a better conclusion in judging a matter of law on certain issues than a white male.
Democrats control the Senate 60-40, meaning that a united party-line vote on cloture would end debate on the nomination and halt any attempt at a filibuster by Republicans.
Political Considerations
Republicans would also face political difficulties in opposing the court’s first Latina nominee. After losing the 2008 elections, the party is seeking to improve its standing among Hispanics, the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate. Cornyn said that would not prevent Republican senators from asking tough questions.
“A third of my constituents are Hispanic, and what they want, and what every nominee deserves, is a fair hearing,” with an extensive review of the candidate’s qualifications and fitness for the post, he said. Senator Jon Kyl, a Republican from Arizona, said on ABC’s “This Week” program that the review should be “as thorough as possible.”
Democratic Senators predicted Sotomayor will be confirmed.
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, speaking on the ABC program, said Sotomayor is one of the most qualified nominees in the court’s history, having tried about 400 cases.
“I take enormous pride as a woman in voting for her,” Feinstein said, adding that she believes Senate approval is inevitable. “She actually brings to the court more experience in courts -- trial courts, appellate courts -- than any sitting member of the Supreme Court.”
Confirmation Likely
Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the Judiciary Committee, said on the CBS “Face the Nation” program that “she has been a judge longer than anybody who has gone on the Supreme Court in almost 100 years.”
“I suspect she will be confirmed,” Leahy said.
Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, predicted on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today that Sotomayor will be confirmed by a wide margin and may receive more votes than Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts received 78 votes when he was confirmed on Sept. 29, 2005, with 22 Democrats and one independent joining 55 Republicans.
Republicans have stepped up their criticism of Sotomayor, Democratic President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and others have questioned her handling of a New Haven, Connecticut, race-discrimination case.
Firefighter Case
The case involved 17 white firefighters and one Hispanic who sued when the city canceled planned promotions because no blacks scored well enough on tests to qualify. A divided Supreme Court last month reversed a decision by Sotomayor and two other judges, which had upheld the city’s actions.
Sotomayor’s comments on judicial neutrality and her stated view that personal experiences influence a judge’s decision strike a blow “at the very ideal of American justice,” Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said on CBS.
“I think she’s going to have to answer to that,” he said, while stopping short of saying he would oppose her nomination.
Leahy said on CBS that he hopes the nomination doesn’t become a partisan fight, noting that he voted for Roberts when he was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush “because I felt chief justice of the United States should not be on a party-line vote.”
President Obama called Sotomayor from the Oval Office today to wish her good luck, the White House said in a statement. He complimented the judge for making courtesy calls to 89 Senators ahead of her confirmation hearing, during which she discussed her adherence to the rule of law throughout her 17 years on the federal bench, according to the statement.
“The president expressed his confidence that Judge Sotomayor would be confirmed to serve as a justice on the Supreme Court for many years to come,” the White House statement said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Cary O’Reilly in Washington at caryoreilly@bloomberg.net; Vincent Del Giudice at vdelgiudice@bloomberg.net.
WASHINGTON — A top Senate Republican says Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will have to explain statements suggesting that judges can't be neutral, but he also acknowledges that her confirmation as the high court's first Hispanic justice won't be blocked.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn tells "Fox News Sunday" that he and other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee plan to ask Sotomayor about her comment in 2001 that she hoped a "wise Latina" would often reach better conclusions than a white male without similar experiences.
Cornyn says the statement "was not an isolated comment" and that it is "antithetical to the whole idea of the rule of law."
In the end, though, he says, the 40 Senate Republicans are not going to block her confirmation.
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