Democratic Female Senators Praise Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 26 Jun 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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Several Democratic female senators on Wednesday took to the floor in a series of speeches praising Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and highlighting her judicial qualifications, the Boston Globe's "Political Intelligence" reports. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) -- a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- was joined by Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.).

In her address, Klobuchar said that Sotomayor's experience "particularly resonated with me," adding that Sotomayor "understands the law is not just some dusty book in your basement" and that its interpretation has consequences. McCaskill said that Sotomayor is a nominee with "integrity, grit, intellect and the ability to pass judgment in the most difficult intellectual challenges that face a Supreme Court justice."

According to "Political Intelligence," the floor speeches came after Klobuchar and others praised Sotomayor's nomination at Monday's annual convention of the left-leaning legal organization the American Constitution Society. In her speech, Klobuchar defended Sotomayor against conservative critics who have questioned the nominee's temperament, citing complaints that Sotomayor was impatient with unprepared lawyers. Klobuchar said that she is "hoping that we would get to a point in this country where we could be appointing and confirming as many as rough and to-the-point female judges as we have appointed male judges" ("Political Intelligence," Boston Globe, 6/24).

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