WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s nominee for U.S. Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor, faces tough questioning Tuesday from Republican senators about her ability to judge fairly as she seeks to lock up all-but-certain confirmation as the first Hispanic on the nation’s top tribunal.
Senate Republicans plan to confront Sotomayor with her own words, taken from speeches dating back 15 years, as her confirmation hearing resumes in the Senate Judiciary Committee with question-and-answer rounds that are expected to stretch over two days and possibly into a third.
The opening of Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing Monday was pure Washington political theater: a nationwide television audience, anti-abortion protesters disrupting proceedings and racially tinged comments. Democrats lauded Sotomayor’s rise from humble origins, Republicans worried that she would make decisions based on her personal views, not the law.
The only thing lacking was mystery. With Democrats dominating both the committee, which will cast the first votes, and the full chamber, Sotomayor appeared headed for confirmation — barring a last-minute blunder at this week’s hearings.
“Unless you have a complete meltdown, you’re going to get confirmed,” acknowledged a Republican senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
“And I don’t think you will” have a meltdown, Graham added quickly as Sotomayor sat listening, her face in a half-smile.
Still, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing offered opportunity and risk for both parties.
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This is all just going through the motions. To bad they couldn’t just skip this process altogether and save a lot of time and money. Sotomayer is as good as confirmed as another Obama nail in America’s coffin.