Sotomayor hearings: Impartial? Republicans are not so sure

Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, did what his Republican colleagues have done all morning: He raised concerns about whether Sotomayor would be able to put aside any personal feelings and prejudices and be an impartial arbiter on the nation’s high court.

He did not call into question any of her official opinions -- that will certainly come later and will probably get heated when she is called upon to defend her opinion in the case of  the white firefighters from New Haven, Conn., a ruling that was recently reversed by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote. But, like his fellow Republican senators, Coburn recited some of the snippets from her speeches that have raised conservative hackles.

On a panel several years ago, Sotomayor said that policy is made in the Court of Appeals, but then she immediately corrected herself and said that she should not have uttered such a thing.

“Appeals is where policy is made?” said Coburn. “That is surprising to me. The court is to be a check, not a policymaker.”

As to her "wise Latina" remark, he said, “Your assertion that ethnicity and gender would make someone a better judge -- although I understand the feelings and emotions behind it, I am not sure that could be factually correct, maybe a better judge than some but not a better judge than others.”

Coburn said, “It shouldn’t matter which judge you get, it should matter what the law is and what the facts are.”

-- Robin Abcarian

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Comments

[Dave Atkins]

It is alway a matter of some amusement when Republicans hold some true, abstract and brave principal up like a flag that we should all bow to, like "judges should be impartial," yet fall back on "we have to live in the real world" for other equally true, abstract principals like "the U.S. doesn't condone torture."

D.A.'s shop for judges on the municipal level and corporations shop for Appeals Courts when asking consumers to file abritrations in one State they operate in over others.

Judge Sotomayor was speaking a scientific truth that people's thought processes are affected by their culture and upbringing.

German language requires one to know exactly where the sentence will go before speaking it, due to verb structure. German people's thought processes are shaped by that requirement.

Romance languages require the attribution of masculinity or femininity to nouns. That affects how speakers of Romance languages, including Spanish, look at the world.

All that is researched and documented fact. Let's hope the Republicans stop hiding behind impossible to achieve abstract principals and become willing to come down to the real world and confirm this smart, good person.

[bditman]

What is all the drama? She will get confirmed. She was picked by Obama for her agenda - duh! All this talk about high ideals and professional achievement is just blather. She was chosen for her activism in racial issues and covert worship of racial quotas. Surprised by that she ruled against white firefighters? The US Supreme Court opinion found "Intentional Discrimination" by the City of New Haven. Obviously, with her long association with legal causes pressing the need for "Intentional Discrimination" why should there be any doubt that the main reason she was chosen was because of her support of racially based handouts.

[steve rodriguez]

Wise Latinos and Latinas have really helped us get into a mess in Los Angeles and California!!!