GOP Senator predicts Sotomayor confirmation
Published: July 13, 2009
Updated 4 months ago
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Supreme Court nominee Sonya Sotomayor that he believes she is cruising toward an easy confirmation to the bench, so long as she avoids a public “meltdown.”
The Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee made his comments during Sotomayor’s first confirmation hearing on Monday.
“Unless you have a complete meltdown, you’re going to get confirmed,” he said, to the surprise of many Republicans.
In spite of Sen. Graham’s frank assessment, he was not without words of criticism.
“Graham made it clear he was bothered, like many of his Republican colleagues, by some of Sotomayor’s past comments, including her remark that a ‘wise Latina’ would often reach a better judicial conclusion than a white man,” reported The Wall Street Journal.
“If I had said anything remotely like that, my career would have been over,” he reportedly said.
Asked about Sen. Graham’s remark, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) told The Washington Times that he hopes the U.S. Senate will not vote along party lines, adding: “She’s going to be confirmed.”
Sen. Graham was criticized in 2006 for his role in “coaching” President George W. Bush’s Supreme Court nominee, Justice Samuel Alito, in preparation for his confirmation hearing. Graham confessed openly that he had already made up his mind to support Alito, even before questioning the nominee before Congress, leading some to question whether he had committed an ethics violation.
Republicans also grilled the 55-year-old nominee over judicial activism: the notion that a judge could nullify laws or rule unjustly rule on cases depending upon political beliefs.
“I believe our legal system is at a dangerous crossroads,” Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) surmised, according to Reuters. “Down one path is the traditional American legal system, so admired around the world, where judges impartially apply the law to the facts without regard to their own personal views.”
He continued: “Down the other path lies a Brave New World where words have no true meaning and judges are free to decide what facts they choose to see. In this world, a judge is free to push his or her own political and social agenda.”
During the hearing anti-abortion activists interrupted senators with cries of protest, drawing quick reaction from security guards.
“The first outburst came during Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s opening statement,” reported the Associated Press. “A man in the back of the room interrupted her remarks by shouting: ‘Senator. What about the unborn!’ He called abortion ‘genocide.’”
The man was quickly escorted out of the hearing room.
A second protest erupted during a statement by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). “Abortion is murder!” a man shouted. “Defend life!” He was also escorted out.
A recent Gallup poll found that 54 percent of Americans support Sotomayor’s confirmation, versus 33 percent opposed.
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“Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) surmised, according to Reuters. “Down one path is the traditional American legal system, so admired around the world, where judges impartially apply the law to the facts without regard to their own personal views.”
What a lying POS Sessions is, especially considering his ties to all the partisan GOP criminals running Alabama’s legal system. I’d like to ask him where all that admirable impartiality went when they were trying their own former Governor, Don Siegelman, on trumped-up charges in their kangeroo courts. “Admired around the world” my ass. You’re a stinking lying prick, Sessions.
Graham is merely “predicting” the obvious. Sotomayor’s qualifications are superior to those of Alito or Thomas, and certainly equal to those of Roberts or Scalia. She is less likely to be a guaranteed vote for the left as Thomas, Roberts, Scalia and Alito are for the right, and thus the hysteria against her from the extremist right is suspicious to say the least. I suspect they are merely performing a dress rehearsal for if and when one of their four “reliables” retire, and give Obama the chance to reposition the ideological balance of the court back to the center from its current rightward tilt. That is where they will make their Alamo stand. This is just for practice, and it’s a fair bet they won’t come anywhere near expending all their ammunition against a confirmation they all know is going to happen anyway.
Just as they all knew that Obama is more of a centrist than a wild-eyed left-wing ideologue (despite their screaming during the campaign), they also know Sotomayor is also a reasonable centrist, if with a slightly liberal tilt. They are just testing the range of their missiles for the fight that will really matter. This isn’t it.
Just as they all knew that Obama is more of a centrist than a wild-eyed left-wing ideologue
———————————
Savior Obama is a “centrist?” Where did you get indoctrinated with that LIE?
Did you consider Bush/Cheney “centrists” too? I ask that question because savior Obama IS CONTINUING THEIR AGENDA. Do I need to rattle off the long list of what he is continuing?
The USA Patriot Act, which shreds the US Constitution
2 illegal wars/occupations
illegal torture
rendition
illegal wire-tapping
mountain-top removal
off shore oil drilling off both coasts
STARTED droning Pakistan
threatening Iran
Giving billions to the bankers
Allowing Bush/Cheney to go free for all of their crimes
Continuing “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
(That’s just a partial list)
Really, what is this fraud not continuing from the Bush regime?
That is NOT “centrist.” Duh. That is rabid right-wing Neocon Repug.
I swear, where do some people come up with this stuff? I suppose he’s a “centrist” because he smiles more and has a big D behind his name in some people’s mind and can make empty, feel-good speeches by reading a TelePrompter.
Just as they all knew that Obama is more of a centrist than a wild-eyed left-wing ideologue
———————————
Savior Obama is a “centrist?” Where did you get indoctrinated with that LIE?
Did you consider Bush/Cheney “centrists” too? I ask that question because savior Obama IS CONTINUING THEIR AGENDA. Do I need to rattle off the long list of what he is continuing?
The USA Patriot Act, which shreds the US Constitution
2 illegal wars/occupations
illegal torture
rendition
illegal wire-tapping
mountain-top removal
off shore oil drilling off both coasts
STARTED droning Pakistan
threatening Iran
Giving billions to the bankers
Allowing Bush/Cheney to go free for all of their crimes
Continuing “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
(That’s just a partial list)
Really, what is this fraud not continuing from the Bush regime?
That is NOT “centrist.” Duh. That is rabid right-wing Neocon Repug.
I swear, where do some people come up with this stuff? I suppose he’s a “centrist” because he smiles more and has a big D behind his name in some people’s mind and can make empty, feel-good speeches by reading a TelePrompter.
Funny, Sarah Palin recently had a public “meltdown” and deserted her job as Governor of Alaska. Republicans don’t seem to think that’s a problem for her future.