All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama said today that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's judicial philosophy, as articulated in her speeches, marks "a blow, I think, at the very ideal of American justice."

"In a number of her speeches, for example, she has advocated a view that suggests that your personal experiences, even prejudices — she uses that word — it's expected that they would influence a decision you make," he told "Face The Nation" host Bob Schieffer.

Sessions is the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sotomayor's confirmation hearings begin Monday.

"Every judge must be committed every day to not let their personal politics, their ethnic background, their biases, sympathies, influence the nature of their decision-making process," Sessions said. "When you show empathy for one party, Bob, you necessarily show a bias against another group."

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Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy told CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer Sunday that nobody in America, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, is "above the law."

Leahy was responding to a report in the New York Times that Cheney ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to withhold information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress.

"If, as the New York Times says, we have the vice president of the United States telling people to break the law, now that's a pretty serious matter," Leahy said on CBS' "Face The Nation." "Either he did, or he didn't. If he did, that's something we ought to know."

He said finding out what happened is important because "usually if something is done wrong by one [administration] and it's exposed, the next one tends to behave themselves."

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Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions said Sunday that he believes it is not necessary to appoint a special criminal prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's interrogation policies.

Though President Obama has spoken against such an investigation, Attorney General Eric Holder is reportedly seriously considering making the appointment.

"We've had probably in my committees, Judiciary and Armed Services, thirty or more hearings on this," Sessions told CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer on "Face the Nation". "The Intelligence Committee has had great numbers of hearings and written reports on it. The military has done a series of independent reports. And I believe that that's sufficient. I don't believe a special commission is necessary.

"We were facing some real challenges, and our people tried to do the best they could," explained Sessions. "And I don't think I see the evidence yet to justify any prosecutions."

Vermont's Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy told Schieffer that while he prefers a commission of inquiry, he is "not going to interfere with a special prosecutor."

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Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will meet with senators on Capitol Hill Tuesday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at his briefing today.

Gibbs said Sotomayor had meetings planned with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy, and Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee.

He also said there were efforts to set up a meeting with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and that "other visits can be scheduled for that Tuesday and throughout the remainder of the week."

CBS News Capitol Hill producer Jill Jackson reports that the meeting with Reid is presently scheduled for around 10:15 a.m. ET.

There is no shortage of speculation over not only who President Obama will nominate to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter, but also when the announcement will be made. Yet, the White House and Senate Judiciary Committee members remain coy.

This morning, the president met with key members of the Senate, who will be influential in vetting and voting on the future nominee at the White House.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters after his meeting with the president that he expects a nominee "sometime soon."

He added that the process from nomination to confirmation takes about sixty days unless the prospect is particularly “controversial," so the vote should happen before October.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the newly appointed ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said they had a "nice generalized discussion" with the president and that he hopes for a "unifying nominee" that all committee members can support.

Sessions noted that as a senator, Mr. Obama voted against Bush appointees Samuel Alito and John Roberts but "he did not obstruct or say mean things about them."

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Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on "Face The Nation" Sunday that a non-partisan "truth commission" to investigate the authorization of controversial interrogation techniques (such as waterboarding) is necessary so that America can come to terms with "what happens when we lose our national honor."

"I know some people say, 'Let's turn the page,'" Leahy (left) said. "Frankly, I'd like to read the page before we turn it."

He declared he was not seeking such an investigation out of "some idea of vengeance."

"But we know that there were a number of people that made the decision to violate the law, a number of people who said that we don't have to follow our Constitution, others who wrote memos basically saying the president and the vice president are above the law; the laws of the United States [don't] apply to them like they do to you and me."

"And I want to know why they did that; what kind of pressures brought them to write things that are so off-the-wall; and to make sure it never happens again," he said. "That's why I want it."

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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) reacted quickly and positively this morning to President Obama’s comments yesterday about the possibility of a bi-partisan commission that would investigate the Bush Administration’s torture policies.

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Sen. Leahy said: “I would prefer an overarching commission, non-partisan commission, to look at this and for the American people to know what happened, that would require support from both parties just to get it in there. The president who seemed lukewarm about it, yesterday in his comments seemed more agreeable to the idea and I will sit down and talk with him about it.”

Sen. Leahy won’t just need to convince the White House and Justice Department to go along with the idea of a Torture Commission. He’ll need Republicans to make the Commission truly bipartisan. And for that he might need an initial pledge from the executive branch not to prosecute former Bush officials who authorized and drafted the memos. Wouldn’t that cool the ardor of Congressional Republicans who worry about a “witch hunt”?