Sotomayor Hearings: Day 2
Today's session of the Sotomayor hearings was far more dynamic than yesterday's, simply by nature of its format. Unlike yesterday, today Judge Sotomayor was able to have conversations and engage with the Senators. For the first round of questioning, Senators were given 30 minutes to address any topics of their choosing. 11 Senators completed their first round of questioning today, which made for approximately 6 hours of hearings.
There will certainly be different perspectives on the merits of Judge Sotomayor's answers to questions--whether they were good or bad, incomplete or thorough, avoidant or direct. But, I think that most onlookers would agree that Judge Sotomayor was poised, patient, and articulate throughout the day. It can't be easy, no matter who you are, to be grilled for hours by some of our nation's most influential leaders. But, Judge Sotomayor remained cool, calm, and collected, speaking slowly and deliberately and drawing on her vast knowledge of the law to answer difficult questions.
Like all Supreme Court nominees, she also effectively dodged some of the Senators' questions in order to avoid taking a firm position on issues that could come before the Supreme Court. During the last round of questioning of the day, Judge Sotomayor acknowledged how frustrating it must be for the Senators that she and other nominees are not able to directly engage on the issues that are so important to them.
I think it can be frustrating to the American public as well. To those of us watching from home, the hearings can appear to be days after days of meaningless and esoteric rhetoric. But, ultimately, they provide us with a better, if still incomplete, view of, as Senator Graham put it, "who we are getting."
So, today was a good day. The Senators covered several different issue areas, many of which are of critical importance to the Reform Movement, including reproductive freedom, environmental protection, the death penalty, and civil liberties in a post-9/11 world. As a Movement, we can celebrate that the issues we care about are being elevated and discussed in such a public way. However, there are still more issues that we hope to hear about in the days to come, including civil rights for the LGBT community and the separation of church and state. These are areas of the law where the Supreme Court can have a major impact and where Judge Sotomayor's record is scant.
Tomorrow's hearings will begin again at 9:30am. You can view them on the Senate Judiciary Committee website , watch C-SPAN or follow SCOTUSblog's live blog feed.
Also, we will have a new video tomorrow, so don't forget to check back on the RAC blog during the day!
Comments
I know a lot of people who -- even though they'd be appalled at seeing someone walk into a bar with a pistol -- are using people's reaction as a wedge against the administration. Unbelievable.
Posted by: runescape gold | July 17, 2009 4:08 AM