Confirmation Hearings Day Three

July 16, 2009, by adamzimmerman

Senate confirmation hearings of Judge Sotomayor continued for a third day. Read the transcript of Wednesday’s live blog below and be sure to join us for the final day of testimony.

9:20	Good morning one and all!

9:20	welcome back to AAUW’s live blog of the supreme court confirmation hearings, for Judge Sonia Sotomayor

9:21	once again, I’m Adam Zimmerman, AAUW’s Regulatory Affairs Manager

9:21	and I’ll be taking you through Day Three’s proceedings

9:21	we should be underway in about 10 minutes

9:23	Day 2 recap: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/us/politics/15confirm.html?_r=1&hp

9:25	for a more humorous take on yesterday’s proceedings: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/14/AR2009071403290.html?hpid=topnews

9:28	seven senators remain for the first round of questioning

9:28	on the GOP side: coburn, cornyn

9:29	on the Dem side: Klobuchar, Franken, Kaufman, Whitehouse, Specter

9:29	following the conclusion of the first round, where each senator was granted up to 30 minutes

9:29	a second round will commence, for anyone who wants additional questioning

9:29	up to 20 minutes for that round

9:30	so depending on how many second-rounders there are, we may finish today, or we may go into tomorrow

9:31	senator leahy has gaveled us into session

9:33	senator cornyn of texas is up first

9:34	cornyn just pledged that if he has anything to say about it, there will be an up-and-down vote on the senate floor

9:34	aka, no filibuster

9:35	cornyn heading back into the “wise latina” remark

9:36	that’s good, because this hasn’t been beaten into the ground yet

9:36	not at all

9:36	sotomayor once again comparing her remarks to similar ones made by justice o’connor

9:38	sotomayor again says her words “failed, didn’t work” because of how some have interpreted it

9:39	sotomayor just cited justice alito’s comments about his italian heritage during his confirmation hearings

9:39	that’s been a key democratic “talking point” in response to sotomayor’s critics…interesting to hear sotomayor use it as well

9:40	[Comment From Lauri] there is as lot to be said for the “common sense” of a “wise woman”, latina or otherwise. too many men are afraid of a female perspective.

9:41	Indeed, Lauri…in a setting where 108 of 110 supreme court justices have been white males, sotomayor is breaking the mold, even in 2009

9:41	106, rather

9:42	sotomayor says her context for her remarks has been : “i made it, so can you”

9:45	sotomayor discussing how the court takes different directions as society evolves

9:45	sotomayor says she tells young lawyers not to give in to skepticism about the law

9:48	she says people bring cases to the court because they believe established precedents don’t necessarily cover their particular circumstances

9:48	“if law was always clear, we wouldn’t have judges”

9:50	cornyn keeps picking snippets from various speeches and asking her to explain comments

9:50	you’d think she was being nominated for obama’s chief speechwriter instead of a judge

9:53	for a full list of sotomayor’s speeches: http://judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/SupremeCourt/Sotomayor/SoniaSotomayor-Questionnaire.cfm

9:54	cornyn into abortion now

9:54	sotomayor says she was not asked for any specific views on issues during his white house interviews

9:55	cornyn is citing other legal advocates who claim that she would be a reliable, pro-choice vote on the court

9:55	sotomayor simply insisting that she rules according to the law, on abortion and any other subject

9:56	she cites once case where she upheld the “mexico city policy”

9:57	in terms of the constitutionality of the government choosing to fund to pro-life side over the pro-choice side

9:57

from an AP article:In the case over aid to family planning groups, Sotomayor stuck squarely with precedents from the 2nd Circuit and the Supreme Court in ruling for Bush.The dispute stemmed from President Ronald Reagan’s decision in 1984 to institute the Mexico City Policy that bars U.S. financial help for international family planning groups that support abortion, even with their own money, through services, counseling or lobbying.President Bill Clinton rescinded the policy in 1993, but Bush reimposed it shortly after taking office.

“The Supreme Court has made clear that the government is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position,” she wrote for a three-judge panel in 2002. Obama lifted the so-called global gag rule in January.

9:59	back to Ricci

9:59	as we know, sotomayor was part of a three-judge panel which upheld the district court’s ruling in favor of new haven