Senate Judiciary Committee Backs Sonia Sotomayor

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, setting her up for confirmation next week. The vote was 13-6, with five of the Judiciary Committee’s six Republicans opposing Sotomayor’s confirmation. The recommendation will now be sent to the full Senate, which is expected to approve Sotomayor’s appointment.

The vote follows a four-day hearing for Sotomayor that ended on July 16. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s chairman, Patrick Leahy, called Sotomayor a restrained, fair and impartial judge who applies the law to facts in order to make decisions. But the vote, split mostly down party lines, rankled Republican Senator Charles Grassley, who said he doubted Sotomayor was capable to wear the “judicial blindfold.”

If Sotomayor is confirmed, she will be the first Hispanic and the third female court member. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is currently the only female member on the court. President Obama’s first nominee would replace moderately liberal Justice David H. Souter, who was confirmed by a 90-9 vote in 1990.

Senator Lindsey Graham was the only Republican to vote for Sotomayor in the proceedings. He told the press that he believed President Obama deserved the opportunity to make appointments within the judicial mainstream. Graham expressed concern about partisan fighting over judicial nominations in recent years, and that good candidates might be driven away from the courts. “She can be no worse than Souter, from our point of view,” Graham said in reference to Sotomayor.

Grassley, who was considered one of Sotomayor’s sharpest questioners during the hearing, worried that the left-leaning tendencies would result in judicial activism. The National Rifle Association and the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life have both voiced their dissent over Sotomayor, urging senators to vote against the nominee.

Although most of the senators announced which way they would be voting before the Judiciary Committee met, some felt that the proceedings had taken a turn for the worse,“These hearings have become little more than theater,” Democratic Senator Russell Feingold said.

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