CL – Sotomayor and Miss. Senators
While it is expected that U.S. Supreme Court nominee 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor will face a spirited grilling from the Republican minority in the Senate, it will be interesting to watch how senior Mississippi U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran votes on Sotomayor’s confirmation.
Back in 1998, when former President Bill Clinton nominated Sotomayor to her current federal appeals court post, former Mississippi Republican U.S. Sen. (then Senate majority leader) Trent Lott blocked her nomination for a year arguing that Clinton was grooming her for a Supreme Court nomination.
But when Sotomayor finally got a confirmation vote, Cochran was one of seven Senate Republicans to vote for her confirmation – a list that also included: Sens. Robert Bennett (R-Utah), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Sotomayor was eventually confirmed by a vote of 68-28.
Further complicating the partisan challenge to Sotomayor’s nomination by President Barack Obama is the fact that Sotomayor was nominated to the U.S. District Court by former President George H.W. Bush.
Wicker’s comment following the announcement of the nomination was cryptic at best: “Just as the constitution provides the president the power to nominate a candidate to the Supreme Court, it also gives the Senate an essential role in providing ‘advice and consent.’ It is important that Judge Sotomayor be treated fairly and that her confirmation process be thorough. I look forward to examining her record, experience, and judicial temperament and philosophy as this process moves forward.”
Clarion-Ledger
5/27/9
