‘Wise Latina’ Sotomayor Plugs Her Impartiality
Sonia Sotomayor faces a second day of questions posed by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for confirmation to the Supreme Court. The “wise Latina” said she’d be an impartial judge, despite previous statements that indicate the contrary.
“Many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law – it is to apply the law.” (Source)
Unfortunately, Sotomayor’s past statements and court decisions will not keep her from being confirmed, considering that Democrats hold the majority in Congress. Republican senator Lindsey Graham told her, “Unless you have a complete meltdown, you’re going to get confirmed.”
That about sums it up.
Senator Orrin Hatch notes that depending on the ideology, President Barack Obama believes a judge’s personal views should effect court cases. Obama opposed Janice Rogers Brown, an appeals court judge and a conservative. “He argued that the test of a qualified judicial nominee is whether she can set aside her personal views and decide cases on their merits,” Hatch said. “But today, President Obama says that personal empathy is an essential ingredient in judicial decisions.”
What would Sotomayor’s confirmation mean for racial preferences? The conservative/liberal split on the Supreme Court would hold, with left-leaning Justice David Souter retiring at the end of the current term. In the Ricci v. DeStefano case, Souter joined Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent. In other words, he believes the city of New Haven was permitted to discriminate against whites. And so does Sotomayor.
Her confirmation hearing merely is a formality.
