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Loading ...Obama picks Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court
05.26.2009 9:16am EDT
Updated 12:45 a.m. EST
(Washington) President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that U.S. Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor is his nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court, the Associated Press reports.
If confirmed, she would become the first Hispanic in on the Supreme Court.Sotomayor, 54, would succeed retiring Justice David Souter. Obama said he was looking for a jurist who had “a common touch and a sense of compassion.”
The President said he had looked far and wide before settling on Sotomayor and noted that she would replace Souter as the only trial judge on the high court.
Administration officials say Sotomayor would bring more judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice confirmed in the past 70 years.
Sotomayor was born in 1954 in the Bronx, N.Y. She was nominated as a federal judge by President George H.W. Bush on November 27, 1991, and confirmed by the Senate on August 11, 1992.
Nominated by President Bill Clinton to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 25, 1997, she was confirmed by the Senate on October 2, 1998.
Sotomayor graduated from Yale Law School in 1979, and worked in private practice as a lawyer in New York City from 1984-1992 before joining the New York County District Attorney’s Office, where she served as assistant district attorney from 1979-1984.
She then returned to private practice in New York City from 1984-1992.
Considered a liberal on social issues, it is expected that Republicans on the Judiciary Committee will grill her on her position on LGBT rights.
Some gay activists had been pressing for Obama to nominate Kathleen Sullivan, who is openly gay and the former dean of Stanford Law School, but today HRC praised Obama’s choice.
“We applaud President Obama for choosing Judge Sonia Sotomayor to become our nation’s next U.S. Supreme Court Justice,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese.
“The U.S. Supreme Court decides cases that intimately affect the lives of all Americans. We are confident that Judge Sotomayor has a demonstrated understanding and commitment to protecting the liberty and equality of all Americans.”
The Constitution requires the president to submit his nomination to the Senate for its advice and consent; the House plays no role.
The Senate’s majority Democrats and minority Republicans will investigate the nominee’s background thoroughly before hearings begin in the Senate Judiciary Committee. It normally takes between four and six weeks to begin hearings after the Senate receives the nomination.
The Senate is expected to try to hold hearings and a confirmation vote before the Supreme Court begins its new term in October. They will be overseen by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt).
At the end of the hearings, the committee will vote on the nominee and send a recommendation to the full Senate. Whether the committee decision is positive or negative, the full Senate is likely to vote on the nomination.
It takes 60 votes to block a filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. Democrats now hold 59 votes in the Senate with Specter’s defection and two Democratic-voting independents. There is one open seat in the Senate with Norm Coleman and Al Franken fighting in court over the right to be the Minnesota senator.
Robin – um, duh. And yes, I will have to get used to it until such time as we can change it.
Chris
who ever is upset about her, will just have to get used to being upset”???? OK, lets’ use that philosphy to the decision by CA SUPRME COURT, betch you’re not happy with that decision.
If she is the liberal as claimed, what is her stand on LGBT equality? If she is confirmed and we’re going to hear a lot of dissent from the right wingers on this, this will make a total of six Catholic supreme court justices. I have a problem with that. Is she going to be the type who concedes to her religious beliefs rather that what is decent and just where we are concerned?
Robin, I haven’t seen Judge Sotomayor’s comment in its context. I’m sure we’ll all have ample opportunity to in the coming weeks. And I’ll bet what she was saying, in context, was the simple fact that the Circuit Courts are where most of the serious judicial decision-making takes place in this country; not on the Supreme Court.
Oh yes, Courts say “what the law is”. That radical notion is nearly 200 years old and comes from Chief Justice John Marshall, writing for the majority in Marbury v. Madison. Look it up.
She will be confirmed. Anyone who is upset by her being chosen will just have to get used to being upset.
Imagine if a straight white male said the same thing. I will judge according to what it means to be straight white or male.
affirmative action judge. we got a liberal clarence thomas.
For the record I am both brown and gay.
Affirmative Action nominee
Someone who believes that race should be a factor in her judgement. What an idjit.
Imagine if someone had said that I am a straight white male and I should judge according to that.
For the record I am both brown and gay
I may have mispelled it scott, but it doesn’t change the truth. She feels the court of appeals is where policies are made, not the job of the court of appeals or the Supreme Court, she does not deserve the nomination.
Robin,
I believe the word you are looking for is “jurists” (a person versed in the law, as a judge, lawyer, or legal scholar), not “juror” (one who sits on a jury) or “jurorists” (not a real word). Those on the bench of a regular appellate court are referred to as “judges,” while those on the bench of the U.S. Supreme Court (and certain other supreme courts) are referred to as “justices.”
RANDY,,
Maybe you should learn something before you open mouth. Appeal and higher court judges are routinly refer to as jurorists, ok. Experience of discrimination should not factor into decisions by the U S SUPREME COURT, they are to look to the U S CONSTITUTION and apply them to the law. She also belives that the courts should make policies, just to eductate you a little; it’s not the job of appeal judges to make policie, that is the legislation branch job to do. GO BACK TO A GOVERMENT CLASS, OK. Obabma has nominated a racist to the U S SUPREME COURT.
Robin, maybe you should learn what you’re talking about before you speak. Sotomayor is not a juror. She’s a judge. Also, did you read the actual statement in context? It comes at the end of a long lecture. The statement begins “I would hope that…”. She means that she expects that a latina judge would be likely to use her experience of discrimination, so that she would not “wisely” continue discrimination against others, as other supposedly “wise” judges have allowed.
Not on feelling???? yea right,, she made the comment that a wise latino woman with her experiences would make a better decision than a wise white male. She is a racist who will tear the blindfold off justice. BRAVO MR. OBAMA?? Sorry, it should be BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t think it would be based “on feelings.” She has a history of keeping up precedent while having a real-world view on the impact of her decisions. In other words, she’s an anti-Bork. Bravo Mr. President. Bravo Ms. Sotomayor!
come on Al Franken, win the court case to be the senator from MN. We need another Dem to hold the GOP at bay on ability to filibuster the liberal US Supreme Court nominees.
This would be a bad choice, this is a juror who would take the blindfold off of justice. She aleady has made comments to that effect. Sumpreme Court jurors are suppose to decide based on the constitution not on feelings.