Word: sotomayor
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...Never their prejudices," Sotomayor answered, while acknowledging that she had made a bad choice of words in her previous speeches. "Life experiences have to influence you. We're not robots to listen to evidence and don't have feelings. We have to recognize those feelings and put them aside." (Read "Just What Is a 'Wise Latina,' Anyway...
...Sotomayor also spent much of the day defending her handling of the Ricci v. Destefano reverse-discrimination case, which the Supreme Court last month overturned, stating that she had simply followed existing precedent in joining the panel ruling that New Haven was right to deny white firemen promotions when enough minorities had not passed an employment test. She also sought to assure senators she'd remain open-minded on gun laws and pledged that she quite clearly understood that foreign laws are not applicable in the United States, even if she has an interest in studying them. Following a strategy...
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, marveled at Sotomayor's refusal to be ruffled. "I must say that, if there's a test for judicial temperament, you pass it with an A-plus-plus," Feinstein said to laughs from the crowd. "I want you to know that, because I wanted to respond, and my adrenaline was moving along. And you have just sat there, very quietly, and responded to questions that, in their very nature, are quite provocative. So I want to congratulate you about that...
...Democratic senators - who outnumber their minority colleagues 12-7 - spent much of the day alternatively praising Sotomayor and attacking the Roberts-led court. In fact, Roberts was mentioned more often (16 times) than empathy (10 mentions), which Republicans tried over and over again to use as a line of attack against the nominee. Feinstein, for her part, spent much of her 30-minute Q&A with Sotomayor mulling over the court's recent upholding of a ban on partial-birth abortion - in her view bypassing the Roe v. Wade precedent. "I'd also like to ask you your thoughts...
Schumer spent the bulk of his time working to dispel the Republican notion of Sotomayor as ruled by passion more than the law. He went through some of Sotomayor's most tragic cases to underline instances where she applied the rule of law even when the decision went against those who had clearly suffered. "You heard the case of families of the 213 victims of the tragic TWA crash," Schumer said. "The relatives of the victims sued manufacturers of the airplane, which spontaneously combusted in midair, in order to get some modicum of relief, though, of course, nothing a court...