Sotamayor is headed to an easy confirmation

July 16, 5:21 PMJacksonville Liberal ExaminerKevin Michael Derby

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Jacksonville Liberal Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Almost every time a Supreme Court nominee is up for Senate confirmation, the stormy precedents of the past, namely the bitter Bork and Thomas confirmation fights, are brought up and yet nothing dramatic seems to happen. While conservative activists thunder that Sonia Sotomayor is a racist, their message apparently is not taking hold with the Republicans in the Senate. GOP Senators Orrin Hatch of Utah, Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Lindsey Graham from the Judiciary Committee may even be prepared to vote to confirm Sotomayor and even Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, who probably will not vote for Sotomayor, has pledged to prevent any attempt to filibuster her nomination when it comes before the entire Senate. Sotomayor appears headed through the Judiciary Committee and to a Senate confirmation in early August.

The Sotomayor confirmation only follows a recent pattern. George H. W. Bush nominated David Souter to the Court and a Democratic controlled Senate confirmed him 90 to 9. Bill Clinton named Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Court and, while she faced a Democratic Senate, she still won the support of 96 Senators. Stephen Breyer passed through a Democratic Senate the next year with 87 votes. When George Bush named John Roberts as Chief Justice, he passed through with 78 votes, with the Democrats splitting 22 for and 22 against. The closest votes besides Thomas was Samuel Alito who managed to win confirmation with 58 votes. And not a single Senator voted against confirming John Paul Stevens, William Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Conner and Antonin Scalia.

Sotomayor's confirmation was never in doubt with the Democrats dominating the Senate. It's possible that Sotomayor may already have close to 70 votes in the full Senate since none of the Democratic Senators have come out to oppose her and some of the Republican Senators appear likely to vote for her (namely Snowe and Collins from Maine but other Republicans are also possible including Mel Martinez of Florida and Richard Lugar of Indiana, as well as the committee members listed above). Despite the grumblings about Sotomayor being a racist, she is headed for the Supreme Court and will even have some Republican backing.