Thoughts on the Nomination Process of Judge Sonia Sotomayor

by Karen Hatter | July 16, 2009 at 07:22 am

653 views | 32 Recommendations | 9 comments

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has acknowledged that nothing short of a meltdown can prevent the confirmation of native New Yorker Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina judge it is assumed will be seated as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court.

During Judge Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, which began on Monday, July 13, 2009, Senator Graham and his Republican colleagues have repeatedly questioned the judge regarding her beliefs on her role on the bench, as relates to her Puerto Rican heritage.

Click here to read Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Eugene Robinson's Whose Identity Politics? .

Also at NowPublic :

Myths and Falsehoods Surrounding Sonia Sotomayor's Nomination

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Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 08:40 on July 16th, 2009

Good article by Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post. Thanks for this Karen. Unfortunately confirmation hearings have always been partison affairs. At least to this point there haven't been any real character assassinations. There is no doubt in my mind that Ms. Sotomayor will be confirmed and probably with a considerable Republican endorsement. The fireman Ricci should be interesting testimony today.

Karen Hatter

at 09:52 on July 16th, 2009

You're welcome, Al.

What would constitute character assassination would lie in the eye of the beholder.

There does seem to be an air of desperation as Republican senators, one after the other, beat the proverbial 'dead horse' as relates to the judge's heritage, as Right Wingers within the GOP drag out unsuccessful accusations/tactics used during the 2008 presidential election in an effort to discredit Judge Sotomayor.

Of course, these types of machinations are said to rally the base of the Republican Party, whomever that may be.

Pity.

Amy Judd

at 10:04 on July 16th, 2009

A meltdown of opinion or a meltdown in the Supreme Court?

Karen Hatter

at 11:53 on July 16th, 2009

Good question, Amy. As I listened to the senator, I understood him to mean if the judge herself made some sort of major faux pas, making some statement to cause a big row and/or I guess, possibly displaying the temper the senator alluded from his anonymous sources.

neilabraham

at 19:46 on July 16th, 2009

The fire fighters were NOT happy with her decision.

Karen Hatter

at 14:16 on July 16th, 2009

It is truly fortunate that those who choose to view Judge Sotomayor through the lens provided by her critics have a venue and access to the government to voice their displeasure, unlike those whose circumstances and lives were not afforded true court access, with limited means of redress and representation, those being so called Native Americans, the enslaved of African descent, with non Whites not allowed to be citizens in the United States and Caucasian/White women, for over one hundred years, as only White men were allowed within the process.

caj1

at 18:16 on July 16th, 2009

Karen, your first sentence says it all for me, when thinking about Sonia Sotomayor's U.S. Senate confirmation hearing...when Republican Senator Lindsay Graham apparently said nothing short of a meltdown could prevent her from being confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, I started thinking and saying to myself...this would never have been said if it were a male candidate! And then later, when there were references about Ricky Ricardo and Lucy Ricardo...excuse me, but while I remember "I Love Lucy" on TV during its original airing dates, I sure don't remember line for line what certain episodes had. Thus, my second comment is that I didn't get this intra-Washington-N.Y. joke made during the confirmation hearing!

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 18:26 on July 16th, 2009

Following the first two days of confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, voters overwhelmingly expect her to be confirmed for the U.S. Supreme Court but remain divided as to whether she should be.

Ninety percent (90%) now say her confirmation is likely while only four percent (4%) say it is not.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% of voters now favor her confirmation while 43% are opposed. Importantly, those who are undecided have a positive view of President Obama and are probably willing to give him and his nominee the benefit of the doubt.

ZacharyU

at 02:11 on July 30th, 2009

President Obama had hoped to have his Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor confirmed by the time the high court's new term begins in October. Currently, the Senate committee handling Sonia Sotomayor hasn't confirmed her to the bench, but approved her to be voted on. In other words, they voted on whether or not she should be voted on. It seems to take payday loans at least to understand how these things work. She's been accused of being an activist judge, which is a code word for when a judge makes decisions that are legally valid that conservatives don't like, like backing civil rights, for instance. At any rate, Sonia Sotomayor won't need unsecured loans if she does take the Bench.