Sotomayor Vote Today

Before leaving on their August recess tomorrow, the Senate is scheduled to vote on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.  The vote will take place about 3 p.m. Eastern Time or about noon for us on the West Coast.

Sotomayor’s confirmation is expected because many Republicans are breaking with their party to vote for her, probably a smart move in this politically hot climate, to look more moderate to their voters.

Sotomayor, if confirmed, will replace liberal Justice David Souter and, politically will be a parallel replacement, not bringing much idealogical change in that respect.  Sotomayor, however, will make history with her expected confirmation because she will become the first Latina on the high court.

Senate vote on Sotomayor scheduled for this afternoon – Los Angeles Times.

 

Sotomayer Must Explain Her “Latina” Comment

One topic that must come up in Sonia Sotomayer’s confirmation hearings regards her comment given in a lecture back in 2001:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

It’s okay to reserve judgment until her Congressional hearings, but this comment flies in the face of the views held by Justices Ginsburg and O’Conner and may indicate a tendency for reverse discrimination.  The Democrats who are the majority in Congress must not go soft on questioning her but instead attempt to get inside her head and thinking because this statement may be indicative of an inability to rule fairly.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any video or audio of her lecture at Berkeley, but I did find a NY Times link for the transcript, the comment in question is toward the end of the lecture are on page 5.  Here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html?_r=1

 

Obama Names Sotomayor to Replace Souter

In the post-Holiday rush of news, this is one toward the top of the list:  Obama has finally named his nominee for the United States Supreme Court and it’s federal appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina to the highest court.

Republicans have said they will withhold judgement on her until after the confirmation hearings later this summer and let’s hope they do just that.

There is a lot of information – both for and against – right now about her.  But, the only way to determine for sure whether she’s right for the job will be what is revealed about her during those hearings.

It’s obvious that Obama was playing politics with this choice because he was under pressure especially to choose a woman and a Hispanic.  But he’s not the first President to employ politics in naming someone to the Court.  It really doesn’t matter in the long run because – politics aside – a good judge is a good judge and, if passing confirmation, that ability to make fair and wise decisions will be there anyway.

Let’s all wait and see the real Sotomayor, rather than the spin the news portrays, in the hearings and then decide whether she’s right for the position!