GOP Asks For More Evidence Of Sotomayor's History
5065717Six Republican senators say Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor submitted insufficient information to the Senate last week.
Ranking Senate Judiciary Committee member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and five others sent a letter, obtained by CBS News, to Sotomayor on Wednesday asking for more evidence of her history as a judge.
"It is important that your information be complete to permit the Committee to properly evaluate your record in the short time has been provided," the letter said. (You can read the full letter here.)
Republicans have expressed their anger over the timeline Democrats have set for Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, which they slated to start on July 13.
Sotomayor last week submitted to the Senate a 172-page questionnaire and multiple boxes of supplemental material. Some requested information has yet to be handed over, however.
In their letter, the Republicans ask Sotomayor to clarify her role with two groups -- the State of New York Mortgage Agency and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Among other things, they also asked for copies of the material Sotomayor edited as an editor for the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Studies in World Public Order, reports relating to internal court deliberations that she did not initially submit because they are not public documents, and clarification on some of her court decisions that were overturned.
In addition, they ask for more documentation from the 191 occasions on which she delivered a speech, lecture, or other such remarks.
"For 98 (speeches), you stated that you could not locate any record, for one you stated that you gave a standard speech, for two you cross-referenced a different speech, for 81 you provided a draft or video, and for eight you provided news clippings instead of a draft, transcript or remarks," the letter says. "We are particularly troubled because there may well be transcripts available for certain remarks."
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said this sort of delay is common for Supreme Court nominations and that the White House made it clear from the beginning it would provide the missing information.
"The vast majority of information requested in the Committee questionnaire was provided last week so that the Senate could begin its review," he said in a statement. "We will forward the supplemental information as soon as our review is complete. We have been and will continue to be as responsive to the Committee's requests, but this in no way should slow the confirmation process."
Judiciary Committee Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said many Republicans could vote against Sotomayor because they feel they haven't had time to learn enough about her, according to the Associated Press.
You can read more about coverage of Sotomayor today in Politics Today, CBSNews.com's inside look at the day's political stories, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris.
