Senate confirmation hearings

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Supreme Newbie Faces Steep Learning Curve

(Newser) - Justices past and present say no amount of experience can prepare someone for the role Sonia Sotomayor is walking into, the New York Times reports. "I was frightened to death for the first three years," Justice Bremer, who joined the court in 1994, once admitted.  As the...

Senate Confirms Sotomayor
 Senate Confirms Sotomayor 
Aug 6, 2009 2:36 PM CDT

Senate Confirms Sotomayor

(Newser) - The Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor today as the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. The vote was 68-31 for Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first high court nominee. She becomes the 111th justice and just the third woman to serve. Democrats praised the 55-year-old Sotomayor as a mainstream moderate. But...

McCain Will Vote Against Sotomayor

Senator unable to support a 'judicial activist'

(Newser) - John McCain says he'll oppose Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor when the Senate votes on her confirmation this week. Despite Sotomayor's efforts to distance herself from her record, the Arizona Republican said today, Sotomayor is a judicial activist who has used her position as a judge to try to change...

GOP Looks Tacky in Vote on Sotomayor

(Newser) - Senate Republicans locked arms against Sonia Sotomayor yesterday … or would have, if they’d bothered to stay for the Judiciary Committee’s vote. Instead, half ducked out, leaving Jeff Sessions to repeat “No by proxy,” over and over, writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. It was...

Judiciary Committee Approves Sotomayor

(Newser) - The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to approve Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. The committee voted 13-6 this morning to send Sotomayor's nomination to the full Senate, where she's expected to be confirmed easily next week. Just one Republican, South Carolina's Lindsey Graham,...

Graham Blasts GOP's 'Blind Ideology'
Graham Blasts GOP's 'Blind Ideology'
Interview
Jul 24, 2009 9:33 AM CDT

Graham Blasts GOP's 'Blind Ideology'

Republican embraces bipartisanship on Sotomayor nomination

(Newser) - Lindsey Graham’s been on the Republican hot seat since throwing his support behind Sonia Sotomayor, but he doesn’t think much of the purity police attacking him. “I have no desire to be up here in an irrelevant status,” the senior senator from South Carolina tells Politico....

GOP Delays Sotomayor Vote
 GOP Delays 
 Sotomayor 
 Vote 
Jul 21, 2009 10:55 AM CDT

GOP Delays Sotomayor Vote

(Newser) - The Senate Judiciary Committee today put off its vote on Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination for one week, to July 28, after Republicans asked for a delay. Chairman Patrick Leahy says he is disappointed the Republicans held up the committee's action, but predicts Sotomayor will join the Supreme Court in...

These Hearings Are All About the Next Nominee
These Hearings Are All About the Next Nominee
analysis
Jul 15, 2009 9:52 PM CDT

These Hearings Are All About the Next Nominee

(Newser) - Three days, no bombshells: Sonia Sotomayor is a done deal for the Supreme Court. The humdrum proceedings still have value, however, write Peter Baker and Charlie Savage in the New York Times. It's all about the next nominee, and that could be a much bigger fight. If nothing else, Republicans...

Sotomayor's Inspiration? Perry Mason
 Sotomayor's 
 Inspiration? 
 Perry Mason 
CONFIRMATION HEARINGS
Jul 15, 2009 2:56 PM CDT

Sotomayor's Inspiration? Perry Mason

(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor’s zeal for the law comes from the tube, the Los Angeles Times reports. The former prosecutor credits for her conversion a Perry Mason episode where the titular defense attorney “proved his client innocent and got the actual murderer to confess,” the Supreme Court nominee told...

Firefighters Drop In on Sotomayor
 Firefighters 
 Drop In on 
 Sotomayor 
CONFIRMATION HEARINGS
Jul 15, 2009 10:36 AM CDT

Firefighters Drop In on Sotomayor

(Newser) - The New Haven Fire Department arrived in uniform on Capitol Hill today to watch the third day of Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings, the New York Times reports. So far talk has swirled around abortion, with Sotomayor refuting reports that the Obama administration had given her a “litmus test”...

Sotomayor Puts Personality on Display

(Newser) - Say what you will about Sonia Sotomayor, the woman has a great laugh. Her second day of testimony brought the nominee's personality into clearer focus, writes Ann Gerhart in the Washington Post. In addition to a sense of humor, exemplified in that "big, full-throated laugh," we learned she's...

Sotomayor's Rope-A-Dope Strategy Looks Familiar
Sotomayor's Rope-A-Dope Strategy Looks Familiar
ANALYSIS
Jul 14, 2009 3:00 PM CDT

Sotomayor's Rope-A-Dope Strategy Looks Familiar

Nominee gives little insight into her true feelings on controversial issues

(Newser) - As Sonia Sotomayor’s question-and-answer session with the Senate Judiciary Committee continues today, the Supreme Court nominee is deploying a familiar strategy, Andrew Cohen writes for CBS News. It's the Rope-a-Dope, much like the one used by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito in their confirmation hearings. Simply...

Sotomayor: Roe v. Wade Is 'Settled Law'
 Sotomayor: 
 Roe v. Wade 
 Is 'Settled Law' 
Confirmation hearings
Jul 14, 2009 12:11 PM CDT

Sotomayor: Roe v. Wade Is 'Settled Law'

(Newser) - Questioning is under way on Day 2 of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, and there has already been much talk of New Haven firefighters and wise Latina women. Asked about that infamous quote early on, Sotomayor replied, “I want to state upfront, unequivocally… I do not believe that any racial...

Beck Complains About Softball Questions for Sotomayor ...

... except nobody asked nominee any yesterday

(Newser) - Someone might need to explain this whole confirmation-hearings process to Glenn Beck. Last night, the Fox host railed against the softball questions senators were tossing Sonia Sotomayor. “As our country burns to the ground, this is the questioning—and get ready, it’s a hard line of questioning” the...

Hey GOP: 'White Male' Is an Identity, Too

(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation is in the bag, but this week's hearings have a real value, writes Eugene Robinson: They are exposing the Republican Party's "refusal to accept the basic principle of diversity." For the Washington Post columnist, the anger surrounding the judge's "wise Latina" remark rests...

Sotomayor Pledges 'Fidelity to the Law'

(Newser) - After listening to senators air their issues for most of the day,  Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor finally got the microphone at the end of her confirmation hearing today, telling senators she would serve the “larger interest of impartial justice," the AP reports. Sotomayor also took an...

Senators Duke It Out at Sotomayor Hearing

(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor has wrapped up the first session of what promises to be a successful but contentious confirmation process. Patrick Leahy opened today's hearing by expressing hope Sotomayor would be spared racial attacks. “She has been a judge for all Americans,” the Senate Judiciary Committee chair said. “...

Six Things to Watch at Sotomayor Hearings
 Six Things to Watch 
 at Sotomayor Hearings 
ANALYSIS
Jul 13, 2009 8:21 AM CDT

Six Things to Watch at Sotomayor Hearings

(Newser) - The White House is working hard to ensure an easy confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor, with John Roberts' perfect-10 testimony as a model. Will she sail through? Politico lists six things to watch.
  1. That 'wise Latina' remark. Republicans are obsessed with it, and she needs to explain it without sounding phony.
...

GOP to Target Sotomayor With Gun Questions

Ruling in favor of gun control laws could rankle red state Dems

(Newser) - Republicans, who've failed to get traction in opposing Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, finally think they have an issue that might stick: gun control. When the high court struck down Washington’s tough gun control laws as unconstitutional, many wondered if the ruling applied to state laws as...

Sotomayor Proves Poor Lightning Rod for GOP

Nominee fight doesn't boost fundraising

(Newser) - After nearly a month in the public eye, Sonia Sotomayor isn’t proving nearly as controversial as Republicans had hoped, Politico reports. “She doesn’t have the punch out there in terms of fundraising and recruiting, at least so far," said Republican congressman John Thune. Things could change...

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