Senate Republicans Won't Block Sotomayor

Washington Post: Key Republican Says He Won't Support Filibuster, Virtually Assuring Her Confirmation

(Washington Post)  This story was written by Paul Kane, Robert Barnes and Amy Goldstein.

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Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor won virtual assurance of rapid confirmation yesterday when Senate Republicans announced that they do not intend to block a vote that would make her the first Hispanic on the nation's highest court, concluding three days of intense questioning.

Sotomayor's path to becoming President Obama's first Supreme Court appointment was enhanced by a two-pronged strategy: During more than 15 hours of questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she revealed little about the type of justice she would be, declining to disclose her views on the most significant and polarizing legal matters working their way through the courts. In addition, she deflected critics' allegations that her public speeches showed a bias based on her sex and ethnicity, assuring the committee she is a moderate jurist and not a liberal judicial activist.

By the time she stepped out of the witness chair, Sotomayor had earned the grudging respect of even conservatives on the committee who are not likely to support her. "Thank you for giving us such a cordial response, and I am mightily impressed," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

For a nomination that began with conservative commentators charging that the judge had made "racist" comments, Sotomayor wrapped up her appearance with a confident smile and thanked the senators for their courtesy.

"I have received all the graciousness and fair hearing that I could have asked for," she said.

The committee has scheduled a Tuesday meeting to begin considering the nomination, with a formal vote likely the following week because Republicans expect to ask for extra time to review answers to written follow-up questions they will submit to her today. The committee's vote serves as a recommendation for the rest of the Senate, which is likely to hold its final roll call on Sotomayor by Aug. 7.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the panel's ranking GOP member, told the judge that he would not support any effort to filibuster her nomination, ending any possible suspense over her fate, given the 60 to 40 split in the Senate in favor of Democrats.

With the threat of a filibuster removed, Sotomayor will need just a simple majority -- 50 votes -- to win confirmation. And yesterday she edged closer to gaining Republican support after she continued to reassure members that her history as a judge is a fair barometer of her future rulings.

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who has discussed supporting her, told Sotomayor that her "record as a judge has not been radical by any means."

"You have been very reassuring here today and throughout this hearing that you're going to try to understand the difference between judging and whatever political feelings you have about groups or gender," he said.

Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who has voted in favor of every Supreme Court nominee in his 29 years in the Senate, said that Sotomayor's answers were effective but that he is trying to decide whether she was "pandering" to the committee's conservatives.

"I still got a big question mark about whether or not I really know her," Grassley said in an interview after the hearings.

Conservative activists were continuing to try to gin up opposition. Moments after Sotomayor concluded her testimony, the National Rifle Association said it was dissatisfied with her responses about the Second Amendment and said it would oppose her confirmation. Ralph Reed, a GOP strategist, issued a memo advising Republicans to vote against Sotomayor and make "her an issue in key races next year," focusing on her rulings on gun rights.

Other Republican strategists have questioned the wisdom of such a strategy, saying it could alienate Hispanic voters, an emerging bloc that tilted heavily toward Obama and Democrats last fall.

Once the outcome of the committee's pending deliberations and vote were no longer in doubt, Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) allowed Republican members three rounds of questioning. The last round was more about lobbying for specific pet issues than trying to elicit new information.

Throughout the questioning, Sotomayor, like previous nominees, deflected any questions that might give clues to future rulings.

Committee members found that frustrating at times. "You know, the test is not whether Judge Sonia Sotomayor is intelligent. You are," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.). "The test is not whether we like you. I think, speaking personally, I think we all do. The test is not even whether we admire you or we respect you, although we do admire you and respect what you've accomplished.

"The test is really: What kind of justice will you be if confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States?"

Sotomayor replied: "Look at my decisions for 17 years and note that, in every one of them, I have done what I say that I so firmly believe in. I prove my fidelity to the law, the fact that I do not permit personal views, sympathies or prejudices to influence the outcome."

In their final questioning, Republicans focused on issues important to their conservative base: same-sex marriage, gun control, campaign finance reform, abortion.

Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz), the first Republican to question Sotomayor yesterday, renewed the GOP's criticism of her role in a discrimination case involving Connecticut firefighters. He challenged her assertion that she and two other judges on an appeals court panel had been bound by legal precedent in their ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano.

The ruling, which the Supreme Court recently reversed, has been one of the GOP's central lines of attack on the nominee all week. Sotomayor and two colleagues on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit held that the city of New Haven was justified when it dropped a promotions test for firefighters after only white candidates and a small number of Hispanics -- but no African Americans -- would be eligible for advancement.

The lower courts held that the city was justified in scuttling the test results because of past rulings that tests with disparate outcomes for minorities could be a form of unintended discrimination, and would open the city to lawsuits from minorities.

But the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that the city's actions violated the portion of the same civil rights act that outlaws discrimination on the basis of race.

Kyl's quick return to the case yesterday morning also served as a prelude to a moment of drama in the afternoon, when Frank Ricci appeared before the committee as one of the public witnesses invited by the GOP.

Ricci was one of more than 30 witnesses, supporting the judge and opposing her, who testified after Sotomayor left the room. They included David Cone, a former major league baseball player who praised her role in ending a 1990s baseball strike; a leader of the antiabortion movement; and former FBI director Louis J. Freeh, who recalled helping her as a federal district judge in New York when she first joined the bench.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) told the panel that he first recommended her nomination several months ago, before Justice David H. Souter announced his retirement, after a White House meeting with Obama on an unrelated subject.

"She is an independent jurist who does not fit squarely into an ideological box," Bloomberg said, echoing a refrain the nominee trumpeted all week.

[viejachula]

Dems - 1
America - totally lost!

[connunism]

Hispanics across the USA will never forget the treatment Sotomayor received from the racist white trash that make up the Republicons in Congress. Even states such as Texass will be voting Democrat in 2010.

[jwesel1]

by enriquieGonzales July 18, 2009 12:20 PM EDT
regret voting for Obama. Everything that we were told about Obama at the beginning from the far right are coming true.

Why did we elect a president who spent 20 years in a Marxist Rev Wright Church? The same church that praised Hamas!!
===================================================================
Some churches have this habit to oppose illegal occupation of lands by Israel. Maybe that's why.

[carolhill814]

They are a bunch of chickens that is why they won't because they might lose the votes from these wonderful people that have distroyed our Country.

[trueblueusa]

Headlines Should read:
RepubliCons Can`t Block Sotomayor

[babooph]

Like Roberts ,a good choice-both easy-Bush ,trying to get his fool religious nut, failed due to her total lack of ability.

[John_Merritt]

'Senate Republicans Won't Block Sotomayor'

Why should they, she is probably the most qualified of anyone out there. I somehow think during the hearings, she was grilled so intensely; her eyes were opened in ways that was educational for everyone. Hopefully she will be true to the law and not her emotions or gender or race. Good luck!

[nextgenman09]

I find joy everyday in the fact the the rotting RINO GOrPse has zero ability to do anything anymore. The world is finnally free of the nuball republicans.

In its simplest form, the confirmation of Sotomayor is nothing more than government cronies elevating another government crony.

[omnibus66]

So the Repubs say they will not filibuster the nomination. Sort of like Herve Villechaize saying he won't block Wilt Chamberlain from dunking the basketball.

Each Repubs vote on this will depend largely on two deciding issues.
1) How many Hispanic voters in the district.
2) How long until reelection.

Her judicial record strongly suggests that any personal biases do not enter into her decisions. Too bad the Senators records say otherwise about them.

[darthcheney345]

Just think, the 40th anniversary of Chappaquiddick is just HOURS away now.

Does anybody know of any commemorative events - like tossing a paper mache replica of the Oldsmobile off a bridge somewhere?

That might get as much turnout as a TEA party.

[cs4466]

dcheney's always' been a little short in the ... facts department :)

[cs4466]

There's a few bitter neocons left in here playing mostly - with themselves.

At least they're consistent - they did the same thing for all eight years of the Bush administration. ;)

Enjoy, you irrelevant losers! :) Back to real life!

[darthcheney345]

After the GM debacle, most Democrat posters were keeping a low profile.

The spectacle of the Democrats forking over a total of $50 billion of OUR money to a big greedy company was NOT pretty.

Oh right, it was to SAVE JOBS...

Funny, when the GOP talks about tax cuts to save jobs, the Dems all jeer. But when Obama and Pelosi outright HAND OUR MONEY to GM, ooo it's SAVING JOBS.... ROTFLMAO!

But Democrats count on people having short memories. So they think they can come back out of hiding now.

[cs4466]

Who are you again and you think people would listen to you because...?

[South-of-Heaven]

Gravy, its been a looong time coming.
its so nice isnt it?

[darthcheney345]

Spitzer Geithner Daschle Richardson Blago Burris Edwards Kilpatrick Mahoney(followed Foley on decency crusade, then had affair) Kennedy Clinton

Obama's blunders:
ill fated plan to close Gitmo, getting spanked by his own party in Congress
Geithner Daschle Richardson
"Special Olympics" gaffe
"punch drunk" TV interview
Capt Phillips taken hostage
N Korea weapons testing, launched seven missiles in one day on 7/4/2009
NYC "photo op" flight
cancel F-22 program
bow to Saudi king
continuing Bush policies on drones, wiretaps, Gitmo detainees, free trade
GM debacle
Appointed a racist bigot to the Supreme Court
Appointed an obese woman to be Surgeon General

Just plain embarassing:
Carter

[darthcheney345]

Really, didn't anybody notice how John Edwards looks like the young Tom Skerrit's character in the MASH movie?

You know, the one who proved he didn't like Hot Lips by doing the shower prank?

Why wasn't that character in the TV series?

[beaumuff]

The dumpocraps have long forgotten Edwards, They have a short memmory. They don't remember the Carter days that every thing was going to be a free ride but just like now it's not going to happen.

[darthcheney345]

But they can remember Reagan.

[beaumuff]

You have already been hooked with BS. No the check is not in the mail and you will pay through the nose. That is if you even work. The bills are on the way. Who's gonna pay? One clue, it won't be Exxon.

[darthcheney345]

The question NO DEMOCRAT WILL ANSWER:

When whites are forced to appeal to the Supreme Court for minority protection, will Sotomayor vote for or against it?

STILL no answer.

Does Sotomayor believe that whites are entitled to a legitimate right to protection from discrimination based on race?

[nanc12]

Since whites will be a majority until 2050 by most projections, do you really think Judge Sotomayor will still be serving on the Supreme Court? Perhaps no one answered, because the question was idiotic.

[darthcheney345]

by gravyboat5000 July 17, 2009 5:46 PM EDT
All ya got is Kennedy?

------------

Kennedy was just TOMORROW.

Here's more (you asked):

Spitzer Geithner Daschle Richardson Blago Burris Edwards Kilpatrick Mahoney(followed Foley on decency crusade, then had affair) Kennedy Clinton

Obama's blunders:
ill fated plan to close Gitmo, getting spanked by his own party in Congress
Geithner Daschle Richardson
"Special Olympics" gaffe
"punch drunk" TV interview
Capt Phillips taken hostage
N Korea weapons testing, launched seven missiles in one day on 7/4/2009
NYC "photo op" flight
cancel F-22 program
bow to Saudi king
continuing Bush policies on drones, wiretaps, Gitmo detainees, free trade
GM debacle
Appointed a racist bigot to the Supreme Court
Appointed an obese woman to be Surgeon General

[darthcheney345]

REMEMBER CHAPPAQUIDDICK!!

40th anniversary tomorrow.

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money]

by gravyboat5000 July 17, 2009 5:32 PM EDT
If they passed her on the street, they'd ASSume she was someone's cleaning lady.

Racists, one and all!
------------------
Well I'm rollin' down Rodeo with a shotgun
These people and seen a brown skinned man since their grandparents bought one.

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money]

Are you kidding me? A humanitarian mission in the Caribbean. Beer's good and the rum's even better. The sun is brutal but not as much as the humidity.

[darthcheney345]

by lovegetpeace July 17, 2009 4:41 PM EDT
Eye to Eye. You sound like a 5 years old kid who just lost his chocolate lollipop. Advise you get out of the kitchen since you cannot stand the heat in the kitchen.
------------------------

You speaking poor the Englishee even for Chinese man person.

Advise you to getting more the Englishee class training for a better Englishee speaking and the writing also more.

ROTFLMAO!

[areuforreal]

racist statement. Cannot consider your comment viable or relevant. Try again.

[darthcheney345]

Why don't you respond to him in Chinese, darth?
------------

Ni hoa! Tai piaoliang shiaojie! Jintian chu taiyang.

Hao chi! Wo bao le.

Sorry, that's all I know.

[darthcheney345]

lovegetpeace is a communist propagandist posting from China.