WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday voted to approve Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice over nearly solid Republican opposition, paving the way for a historic confirmation vote.
The panel voted 13-6 in favor of Sotomayor, with just one Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, joining Democrats to support her. The nearly party-line tally masked deeper political divisions within GOP ranks about confirming President Barack Obama's first high court nominee.
"I'm deciding to vote for a woman I would not have chosen," Graham said. Obama's choice to nominate the first-ever Latina to the highest court is "a big deal," he added, declaring that, "America has changed for the better with her selection."
The solid Republican vote against Sotomayor on the Judiciary panel reflected the choice many GOP conservatives have made to side with their core supporters and oppose a judge they charge will bring liberal bias and racial and gender prejudices to her decisions. Others in the party, however, are concerned that doing so could hurt their efforts to broaden their base, and particularly alienate Hispanic voters, a fast-growing segment of the electorate.
Democrats, for their part, are lining up solidly in favor of the 55-year-old federal appeals court judge, the daughter of Puerto Rican parents who was raised in a South Bronx housing project and educated in the Ivy League.
"There's not one example — let alone a pattern — of her ruling based on bias or prejudice or sympathy," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman. "She has administered justice without favoring one group of persons over another."
The senior Republican, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, countered that Sotomayor's speeches and a few of her rulings show she would let her opinions interfere in decisions.
"In speech after speech, year after year, Judge Sotomayor set forth a fully formed, I believe, judicial philosophy that conflicts with the great American tradition of blind justice and fidelity to the law as written," Sessions said.
Republicans pointed with particular concern to Sotomayor's record on gun and property rights, as well as a much-discussed rejection by her appeals court panel of the reverse discrimination claims of white firefighters denied promotions.
The National Rifle Association is opposing Sotomayor and took the extraordinary step last week of warning senators that it would include their votes on her confirmation in its annual candidate ratings, meaning a "yes" vote would hurt their standing.
"Some of her decisions demonstrated the kind of results-oriented decision-making, one that suggests perhaps a liberal judicial activism that has too often steered the court in the wrong direction over the last years," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
And every GOP senator alluded critically to the now-infamous remark Sotomayor made in 2001 that she hoped a "wise Latina woman" would often reach better conclusions than a white male without similar experiences.
Sotomayor dismissed the comments during her confirmation hearings as a rhetorical flourish gone awry, a defense that rang hollow with many of her critics.
"I regret that I cannot vote for her ... not she's a Latina woman (or) because she said all those things, (but) because she wouldn't defend what she said, and stand up and say, 'I really believe this, but I can still be a great judge anyway, because I will never let that interfere with my judging,' " said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Nation
Related Photos
-
Ron Edmonds
Discussion
July 28, 2009
Judiciary Committee OKs Sotomayor for high court
13-6 vote split mostly on party lines
- Nation
-
-
Egyptians in US already looking toward the future
Waves of celebration rippled out of Egypt and washed onto America's shores Friday, with Egyptian-Americans already looking to the future after the departure of President Hosni Mubarak and his three decades of authoritarian rule.
- Pulitzers handed out When the Pulitzer board handed out the most important prizes in journalism, The New York Times and The Washington Post topped the list of winners— and finalists — as usual.
-
Crews re-enter W.Va. mine to recover 9 bodies
Searchers went back inside a wrecked West Virginia coal mine Monday to pull out more bodies as federal investigators prepared to launch their probe of the explosion that killed 29 men in the worst U.S. coal mining disaster since 1970.
-
Churchgoers honor 29 dead miners _ and profession
A pair of tall black boots and a lunch pail sat near the altar Sunday at the New Life Assembly church, a memorial to the 29 men killed in the worst U.S. mining disaster since 1970 and a thank-you to those who make their living inside the mountains.
-
4 missing W.Va. miners dead; final toll at 29
Rescue workers found four bodies deep in a West Virginia coal mine, dashing the fading hopes of finding more survivors of a violent explosion that claimed 29 lives, making it the worst U.S. mining disaster in a generation.
-
Obama promises quick court replacement for Stevens
The retirement of John Paul Stevens, the Supreme Court's leading liberal but a justice who also could find conservative allies, will set off an election-year political battle over President Barack Obama's second high court pick.
-
Funerals begin for victims of W.Va. mine blast
As grieving relatives began burying some of the 25 coal miners killed in a massive underground explosion, crews prepared to go back into the mine Friday despite increasingly slim odds of finding survivors.
-
Smoke, fear of fire push rescuers from W.Va. mine
Rescue teams trekked far enough into a ruined coal mine early Friday to see that no one had used a chamber where four missing miners could have sought refuge, further dimming hopes of anyone else surviving an explosion that killed 25.
-
Search on again for WV coal mine blast survivors
Rescue workers clinging to the slimmest of hope pushed deep into a shattered coal mine early Friday, trying to get far enough to finally resolve whether four miners somehow survived an explosion that killed 25.
-
Gases force crews to abandon W.Va. mine rescue
Dangerous gases forced rescue crews to abandon the search Thursday for four coal miners missing since an explosion killed 25 colleagues in the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades.
- More Nation Headlines
-
Ravi Spared Prison in Rutgers Webcam Case
Miss. Prison Quiet After Riot; 1 Dead
Obama Confident Afghans Can Take Security Lead
Raw Video: Deadly Bombing at Yemen Parade Preps
Professor: Chinese Activist's 'Spirit Is Good'
Ring of Fire Eclipse Seen in U.S., Asia
Golden Gate Bridge Celebrates 75 Years
G-8 Seeks Unity on Euro-debt Crisis, Iran
Prosecutors: Trio Planned to Attack Obama's HQ
Obama: G8 Unified in Stance on Iran, Syria
