GOP Senators Withhold Criticism of Sotomayor
By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 1:39 PM
With their numbers diminished, Senate Republicans today withheld any criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, instead preaching caution in the process to buy time to fully vet her judicial experience and her personal background in advance of hearings likely to be held in mid- to late July.
Republicans promised a tough confirmation process and zeroed in on President Obama's previous assertion that he wanted a nominee who personally understood what everyday Americans' lives, suggesting that an empathy-driven view of the law did not square with more than 200 years of Supreme Court precedents.
"Senate Republicans will treat Judge Sotomayor fairly. But we will thoroughly examine her record to ensure she understands that the role of a jurist in our democracy is to apply the law even-handedly, despite their own feelings or personal or political preferences," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement. "Our Democratic colleagues have often remarked that the Senate is not a 'rubber stamp.' Accordingly, we trust they will ensure there is adequate time to prepare for this nomination, and a full and fair opportunity to question the nominee and debate her qualifications."
Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), who is the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said in an e-mailed statement, "We will engage in a fair an thorough examination of Ms. Sotomayor's previous judicial opinions, speeches, and academic writings. . . . Of primary importance, we must determine if Ms. Sotomayor understands that the proper role of a judge is to act as a neutral umpire of the law, calling balls and strikes fairly without regard to one's own personal preferences or political views."
Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), a senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee who also chairs the GOP campaign committee, said, "It is my hope that the process will allow her to prove herself to possess the impartiality, integrity, legal expertise and judicial temperament that we have come to expect from those that sit on our highest court. She must prove her commitment to impartially deciding cases based on the law, rather than based on her own personal politics, feelings, and preferences."
Republicans have previously admitted they did not expect to defeat Obama's first Supreme Court nominee. The last court confirmation battles, in 2005 and 2006, took place when Republicans held 55 seats and then-President George W. Bush could count on every one of them to support Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. In addition, Bush had at least seven Democrats who had vowed not to filibuster the nominations unless "extraordinary circumstances," such as serious ethical issues, arose in the confirmation process.
Now, after two brutal election cycles, Republican ranks have shrunk to 40 senators. Two of them, Maine's moderate Republicans, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, will come under intense pressure to support the fourth woman -- and first Hispanic -- ever nominated to be a Supreme Court justice.
This morning, Snowe said she would give Sotomayor close consideration. "I will apply the same standards of review that I have in the past -- that any Supreme Court nominee should bring a balanced approach to cases, possess a strong intellect and suitable judicial temperament, and follow a disciplined judicial methodology in reaching decisions," she said.
She added: "I share the view that the proper role of the judiciary is one of interpreting the Constitution and acts of Congress, not legislating from the bench. As such, I will carefully evaluate Sonia Sotomayor's record and temperament in making my determination."
Sandra Day O'Connor was approved unanimously in 1981 as the first female Supreme Court justice, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg won a 96-3 confirmation vote in 1993. Harriet Miers, Bush's White House counsel, was nominated in the fall of 2005 to succeed O'Connor but withdrew weeks later after losing support among conservative Republicans who considered her corporate law background insufficient for a lifetime appointment to the court.
Democrats issued near instant praise for the choice and called for a quick confirmation process, assuring Sotomayor is comfortably on the bench by the start of the court's new session in early October.
"I believe that Judge Sotomayor will be in the mold of Justice Souter, who understands the real-world impact of the Court's decisions, rather than the mold of the conservative activists who second-guess Congress, and who through judicial extremism undercut laws meant to protect Americans from discrimination in their jobs, their access to health care and education, and their privacy from an overreaching government," Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement. "I believe Judge Sotomayor understands that the courthouse doors must be as open to ordinary Americans as they are to government and big corporations."
Leahy is traveling with a congressional delegation through Afghanistan during the Senate's one-week recess for the Memorial Day holiday, so he was not available to discuss timing of hearings, but he has previously said he wants the nomination completed by the start of the Senate's five-week summer break, slated for Aug. 7.
Sessions today, however, cautioned that Republicans might want more time, although he noted that having a new justice on the court by the beginning of its term in October "a reasonable goal."
He said the Aug. 7 deadline might be difficult to meet, noting that "a Supreme Court justice sits for a lifetime appointment, and the Senate hearing is the only opportunity for the American people to engage in the nomination process. Adequate preparation will take time. I will insist that, consistent with recent confirmation processes, every senator be accorded the opportunity to prepare, ask questions and receive full and complete answers."
Just as new senators have two months to prepare for and settle into Washington life, between Election Day and the time they are sworn in, Leahy has said he would like to give the new justice the same amount of time to prepare for life on the court. Obama has also called for confirmation by Aug. 7.
Republicans, in the run-up to the nomination announcement, suggested that recent history showed that on average it took 60 days from the point of a nominee being announced to the time hearings begin, hinting that hearings couldn't begin until just as the Senate was on the verge of its August recess. That would delay a confirmation vote until September, giving Republicans time to rev up their conservative base in opposition to Sotomayor.
However, in the past three decades of court confirmation battles, Sotomayor is the fifth nominee to be announced by mid-June or earlier. The previous four -- Ginsburg, Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia, and the late chief justice William Rehnquist -- all had hearings and were voted out of the Judiciary Committee before the August break. |
