Three GOP Senators Say They Will Vote Against Sotomayor Confirmation

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 28 Jul 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) -- along with committee members John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) -- recently said that they will oppose Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation to the Supreme Court, USA Today reports. The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Sotomayor's nomination on Tuesday.

In an opinion piece published Monday in USA Today, Sessions wrote that he questions Sotomayor's "fidelity to the law," adding, "I don't believe that Judge Sotomayor has the deep-rooted convictions necessary to resist the siren call of judicial activism. She has evoked its mantra too often." In reference to what Sessions said were discrepancies between her statements before the panel and her judicial record, he wrote, "Which Sotomayor will we get?" (Page, USA Today, 7/27).

On Friday in floor remarks, Cornyn said, "While her record was generally in the mainstream, several of her decisions demonstrated the kind of liberal judicial activism that has steered the court in the wrong direction over the last few years." He added that "many of her public statements reflected a surprisingly radical view of the law." Cornyn also said that "those speeches contain very radical ideas on what the role of a judge is," noting that Sotomayor expressed a belief that there "is no objectivity in law; courts should change the law to make new policy; and ethnicity and gender can and even should impact a judge's decision-making" (Bolton, The Hill, 7/24).

Hatch, in a statement released Friday, said, "I reluctantly, and with a heavy heart, have found that I cannot support her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court," adding, "Although Judge Sotomayor has a compelling life story and dedication to public service, her statements and record were too much at odds with the principles about the judiciary in which I deeply believe" (Stanton, Roll Call, 7/24).

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