The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged Sotomayor confirmation hearing

Senate Expected to Confirm Sotomayor Today

By | 08.06.09 | 8:48 am

After a 12-hour “debate” yesterday during which senators largely repeated the same arguments for and against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor that we heard during her confirmation hearing, the Senate is set to vote on the nominee today.

Although there’s no question that Sotomayor will be confirmed, she’s expected to More…

Gun Debate Lingers Behind Sotomayor Confirmation

By | 08.04.09 | 3:47 pm

As the Senate begins deliberation today on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the outcome of the vote is pretty clear. As the Los Angeles Times points out, “the only remaining questions are whether the National Rifle Assn. can claim to have swayed votes against More…

Sen. Ben Nelson to Vote for Sotomayor

By | 08.03.09 | 2:58 pm

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), after saying last week that he was undecided on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, now says he will vote to confirm her for a seat on the high court.

“I plan to support her,” Nelson told a reporter for the Lincoln Journal Star.

Graham Will Support Sotomayor

By | 07.22.09 | 3:24 pm

As might have been predicted from the tone of his questioning toward the end of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing last week, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) came out in her support this afternoon.

“I feel this is the right vote for me, and quite frankly, for the country,” Graham More…

Sessions: Considering Foreign Law Would Kill Second Amendment Rights

By | 07.21.09 | 11:49 am

Perhaps unintentionally, the written followup questions from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor make a strong case that consideration of foreign law in the debate over the Second Amendment would doom Republican efforts to read a “fundamental right” to gun ownership into the Constitution.

As More…

More Republicans for Sotomayor

By | 07.17.09 | 10:19 am

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is winning over more Republicans every day. As I noted yesterday, by the end of the hearing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was sounding like one of her biggest defenders.

Today, Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) came out with this statement:

I have listened to the testimony

More…

A Quick Primer on ‘Incorporation’

By | 07.16.09 | 5:35 pm

What is “incorporation?”

Among the many legal terms mentioned over the last four days of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings, the term “incorporation,” when it comes to the Second Amendment right to bear arms, is probably the most confusing.

Incorporation in this context refers to whether the Bill More…

Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas Cited Foreign Law

By | 07.16.09 | 11:09 am

Here’s an interesting discovery by Rick Pildes, law professor at New York University, posted on Balkinization.

Turns out Justice O’Connor wrote an opinion in 1998, joined by her conservative colleagues William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, that cited as persuasive an aspect of foreign law, notwithstanding Republicans’ More…

Lindsey Graham: Sotomayor Supporter?

By | 07.16.09 | 10:52 am

Despite asking some of the harshest and arguably most patronizing questions of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor over the past three days, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) appears to be leaning toward voting for her.

Although he just used his questioning time this morning to charge her with engaging in “identity More…