She hasn’t answered a question yet. They’re all just giving opening statements. Pretty predictable stuff so far. The Dems are praising her, and the Republicans are calling her a racist.
I’m not familiar with Senator Kyl (R-AZ) who’s talking right now, but he’s coming off like a real asshole.
Will we get to hear Senator Franken speak at these hearings?
I think that only Judiciary Committee members are present/can speak. I haven’t seen the membership list for the committee, but it is a pretty prestigious one and I would be shocked if a freshman Senator was on it.
He was on with Dick Durbin yesterday on Face the Nation. There he said regarding Sotomayor they would be “thorough” but didn’t really come across as overzealous. I can’t watch so I’ve no opinion on his line. What’s he doing that’s beyond appropriate?
I see that, surprisingly, there’s no Sotomayor confirmation hearings thread yet. So I thought I’d start one off. I expect it to get more interesting once we get past opening statements (that is, if anyone else out there is paying attention to this thing).
I think even the least cynical viewers of this expect it to be little more than a political circus. On cue, the ranking Republican on the committee, Jeff Sessions, opened the minority’s position in the hearings today by noting that activist judges had ruled that kids cannot silently pray in school. Anyone who follows the narrative on so-called activist judges is familiar with this common misstatement of law. For those unfamiliar, the Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that schools cannot direct prayer. They subsequently, on a 6-3 vote, found a required moment of silent meditation or prayer unconstitutional because the court ruled that the evidence suggested the “purpose was to endorse religion.” So not only does it badly construe this law to say that “kids cannot silently pray in school”–of course they can–it also calls even those justices on his side “activists.” What this had to do with Sotomayor’s qualifications for the position is a little beyond me.
Despite the circus aspect, I’m hoping some serious issues will be (inadvertantly?) raised by Senators that might lead to interesting discussion here. For now, my question is this: does anything good come of these show hearings? Would it be better if they were held in private, or would people like Sessions behave the same way? I look forward to the respectful debate.
I hate these things. The Senators pontificate and make it all about them, not about the appointee. This is all theater-- I can’t imagine that she won’t be confirmed. It will be very much like Alito-- pretty much split along party lines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_the_Judiciary
Franken is on the committee.
He was basically stating as a fact that Sotomayor doesn’t follow the Constitution and makes her decisions based on race and gender. He wasn’t saying it like there were questions or doubts about her, just like it was a settled fact that she’s a racist and a sexist.
Thanks. That’s what I thought.
This is absurd. There is no principled reason that I am aware of to oppose her.
Bleh…all political theater.
Barring some astounding revelation the Senators are all just speaking to their constituency (right or left…they all do it) and I doubt give a rat’s ass about the procedure. Barring an amazing revelation they all know she is as good as in anyway. Her qualifications, on paper anyway, are better than many current justices and she got a unanimous “highly recommended” from the ABA.
Enjoy the show for that is all it really is these days. Since the government could use money these days they should make this a reality TV show and see if they can vote her off the island.
I’m with you there. The repetitiveness of the questions drives me nuts. Each senator asks the same questions. Each party ought to designate one or two senators to do the questioning. I dont want to hear the senators pontificate, I want good questions and non vague answers. Instead all we get is bloviating from both sides and from the nominee. I’m sick of bs like, 'I’m sorry, I can’t answer your question about what I think of Marberry v. Madison because the issue might come up again."
I agree. She has tons of experience, and is well within the mainstream of judicial thinking even if she might lean left of center (and I’m not even sure she does).
Blah, blah, blah… Vote. Confirmed.
“Abortion? Why, I’ve heard of it. Is it a flavor of ice cream?”
-Joe
If anyone is interested, there was an interview with RBG in the NYT Sunday Magazine that was pretty interesting. They usually have it on their web site within a day or two.
I think she will be confirmed, but do her statements here give you pause?
Lindsey Graham made some pretty honest comments a little while ago when he said that everything was pretty much a show, that “it’s really all about conservative and liberal politics,” and told her “Unless you have a total meltdown, you’re going to get confirmed.”
He also said no Republicans in the Senate would have chosen her, but that was about politics, and that the Dems never would have chosen Roberts or Alito either and still voted to confirm them.
These hearings are are going to be all about individual Senators blowing hard into their mics for the benefit of their constituents, but I don’t expect their to be much in the way of drama. Sotomayor has had several weeks to craft her answer to the “wise Latino woman” question, and I’m sure she has it cold and has anticiated every angle on it. It’s not like she’s going to start screaming “Kill whitey” or anything.
That was partially a joke (didn’t you notice the laughter), but it was also taken out of context as she was comparing the experience of being on the court of appeals with being a prosecutor (or some other legal function).
Latina. Gotta get that gender agreement right! 
The “where policy is made” comment?
No, that should not give anyone pause who understands the context of it, and the narrow, job specific way in which she was using the word, “policy.”
Anyway, I thought conservatives were upset at her for NOT changing the law in the firefighter case.
This is just speech day. They will start questioning tomorrow. All the Sens., even Sessions, will explain how fair and honest they will be. Over and over we will hear about what a great reflection it is on the fairness of America that a female, Hispanic is being considered.