Sotomayor Arrives on the Hill
EmailABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor arrived with tight security on Capitol Hill just after 10am to start her battery of meetings with senior Democrats and Republicans. At a photo op Senate Majority Harry Reid called Sotomayor the "whole package" and an "underdog" and commended her compelling life story. Next up for Sotomayor today is a meeting with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and the ranking Republican on that committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. Republicans on the Hill have promised a full debate of Sotomayor and today a bloc of more than 140 conservative groups encouraged Republican lawmakers to delay her nomination pending a full debate on the Senate floor. There is a role reversal in their call – these same groups called for swift confirmation of judges during the presidency of George W. Bush. Here is how the groups explained that discrepancy between a filibuster now and a filibuster last year in a letter sent today to Republican lawmakers. "…no credible person, if any, has called on Senate Republicans to brandish a "Democratic filibuster." We call on you instead to display leadership, if the nominee merits it, in preparing for the use of the traditional filibuster, not intended to obstruct, together with moderate Democrats, so that the debate on the Senate floor is appropriately long and, therefore, suitably catalyzed to the American people." Later in the day she will meet with her home state Senators, both Democrats, Republican leader Mitch McConnell, and Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz, both important to her future as the Democrat and Republican in charge of marshaling votes for their respective parties.
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In many courtrooms today (and for years)black and hispanic defendants are being tried by all white juries….(constitutional peers)…without complaint from vast America.
If you as a white person walked into a courtroom jury of all black people…..would you accept this as a jury of your peers?
Posted by: b&w couple | June 2, 2009, 11:53 am 11:53 am
In many courtrooms today (and for years)black and hispanic defendants are being tried by all white juries….(constitutional peers)…without complaint from vast America.
If you as a white person walked into a courtroom jury of all black people…..would you accept this as a jury of your peers?
Posted by: b&w couple | June 2, 2009, 11:54 am 11:54 am
wow – the racists are out today! This is exactly why I voted for Obama – the Supreme Court picks are so important and we’ve had too many uber conservatives appointed lately. Suck it up conservatives -THIS is one of the main reasons we wanted him in the White House.
Posted by: allie08 | June 2, 2009, 12:57 pm 12:57 pm
Her record is somewhat respectable but why should she get a free pass for a racist comment that would require no less than banishment of a white man? She shouldn’t.
Posted by: pops | June 2, 2009, 1:20 pm 1:20 pm
pops – well then aren’t we fortunate that she didn’t make a racist statement! If you read her whole speech you would know that. No matter how many times some of you say she did, doesn’t make it true. Also, if your going to hold her to that standard, why no outrage when Justice Alito made his statement during his confirmation.
Posted by: Try the truth | June 2, 2009, 1:31 pm 1:31 pm
Evidently – not finding REAL basis for objection – these right wingers have taken to simple and lazy spreading of vicious rumors and slander in order to try to get their own way!
Judge Sotomayor’s father – a skilled tool and die maker – died of heart disease when Sonia was just nine years old. Judge Sotomayor’s mother – herself a WW-II veteran, telephone operator and licensed practical nurse – continued to raise young Sonia and her even younger brother thereafter. Overcoming a health obstacle herself, Sonia Sotomayor worked and studied very hard to attain the position of judicial respect and authority that she enjoys today. Her younger brother Juan also worked and studied, and is today a physician and also an Assistant Professor of Medicine in Pediatrics and Allergy.
There is a very nice photograph of young Sonia Sotomayor and her parents posted on Wikipedia: Celina Sotomayor HARDLY looks the image of a “welfare queen”!!
Posted by: Jordan | June 2, 2009, 2:10 pm 2:10 pm
You know, people who continue to label Judge Sotomayor’s remarks as “racist” are merely showing that they have NO ACTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF TRUE RACISM AT ALL!
Judge Sotomayor did NOT state that she was inherently “better” than a white person of European descent: what she stated was that AS A MINORITY MEMBER who has OVERCOME NUMEROUS OBSTACLES in life, she is probably better equipped by her experience to understand the subtle nuances of certain kinds of complex legal issues.
The very fact that so many “white” people are electing to perceive Judge Sotomayor’s remarks as “racist” MERELY DEMONSTRATES THE TRUTH OF JUDGE SOTOMAYOR’S STATEMENT!!!
Evidently, a minority member who has overcome obstacles to achieve success and professional recognition IS better equipped to understand some kinds of matters! Certainly all those labeling her as “racist” are woefully lacking in those very abilities!
Posted by: Jordan | June 2, 2009, 3:11 pm 3:11 pm
Skip the trivia. The People want to know: where did Judge Sotomayor eat lunch in DC?
Posted by: Mike Licht | June 2, 2009, 5:04 pm 5:04 pm