Sotomayor faces split decision in the polls heading into confirmation hearings

July 10, 12:46 PMLegal News ExaminerWilliam Pfeifer, Jr.

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

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

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

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

A CNN survey  found that Judge Sonia Sotomayor has the support of 47% of the people questioned about her nomination, while 40% of them were opposed.  An additional 13% were undecided.

Judge Sotomayor is a U.S. Court of Appeals judge for the 2nd Circuit, which is based in New York.    She has been nominated by President Obama for a seat on the United States Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice David M. Souter.  Her confirmation hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee start on Monday, July 10, 2009, and appear to be heading towards a partisan battle between Democrats and Republicans.

Early concerns arose over comments Sotomayor has made in various speeches, in which she implied she could make better judicial systems due to being a female with a Hispanic upbringing.  In particular, much controversy was generated over a 2001 speech in which she hoped a “wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences . . . . would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”Such remarks have been used by conservatives to label her as an “activist judge.”

Sotomayor's defenders say the remarks are taken out of context, and were part of a larger commentary on judicial impartiality.  In that speech, she discusses whether a judge can truly be completely impartial, and if it is even a good thing for a person to discard their differences in evaluating issues.  Rather than listen to what pundits and politicians assert that Sotomayor said, anyone concerned about this issue should read the speech for themselves.  The full text of her speech is located here.

While the issue over her remarks in the speech may turn out to be a tempest in a teapot, one of her recent rulings is generating more serious debate.  In a case involving white firefighters in Connecticut suing the city of New Haven for reverse discrimination, Judge Sotomayor and the other members of the 2nd Circuit appellate court panel rejected the claims of the white firefighters.  Sotomayor ruled that the city acted appropriately when it denied promotions earned by white firefighters  from their test scores when none of the black firefighters achieved scores that would qualify them for the same advancement, holding that such action by the city was necessary to prevent discrimination.

With the worst possible timing for Sotomayor's nomination, at the end of June the U.S. Supreme Court overruled her order.  In a split decision, the Court held that the city violated the rights of the white firefighters and reversed Sotomayor's ruling.  Notably, Justice David M. Souter, whom Sotomayor would replace on the Court, was among those dissenting from the ruling.

The confirmation hearings seem to be heading for a heated battle.  The Republicans have called one of the white firefighters, Frank Ricci, to appear before the Judiciary Committee to testify against Sotomayor.  Other witnesses include the heads of groups supporting gun rights and opposing abortion.  With such witnesses slated to appear in opposition to her nomination, the upcoming week is guaranteed to be filled with controversy.