Sotomayor confirmed to Supreme Court
Category: National
August 6, 2009 | BY Elissa Underwood
The Senate today confirmed Sonia Sotomayor as the 111th Supreme Court justice. She will be the first justice of Hispanic descent, and the third woman, to serve on the Court.
The 68 to 31 vote came after about 18 hours of debate over the past three days. The confirmation came as little surprise, since her hearing before the Judiciary Committee last month failed to ignite much controversy. Nine Republicans joined the 59 Democrats present to vote in favor of Sotomayor, while 31 Republicans voted against her. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, is ill and did not vote.
Judge Sotomayor, 55, is expected to take the oath of office on Saturday, with a formal ceremony scheduled for September. She succeeds Justice David Souter, who retired in June. She follows Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as the third woman on the Court.
During the nomination process, Democrats pointed to Sotomayor’s qualities that led her from humble beginnings in a Bronx housing project to the pinnacle of her profession. Republicans countered that her background made her too “empathetic,” and that she lacked impartiality.
Political strategists have suggested that Republicans who opposed Sotomayor may face a backlash from Hispanics, the fastest growing U.S. minority. It will be interesting to see if there are political repercussions, especially for Republican senators in states with large Hispanic populations.
Tags: featured, Supreme Court
About the Author
Elissa Underwood: Elissa Underwood is an attorney in Austin who received her law degree from Boston College Law School and her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College. After clerking for Justice Nathan Hecht on the Supreme Court of Texas, she practiced at an Austin firm for three years. Her political views skew toward liberal. Elissa lives with her dog, Hank, and is beginning her Ph.D. in American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin in Fall 2009.
I love that a hispanic woman made it to the supreme court. We need more feminist leadership. But I would have to disagree with the political strategists who suggest there may be a backlash against republican senators for voting against the hispanic woman. Based on the nomination of Estrada in 2001, Democratic senators lashed out against the hispanic conservative claiming that he lacked judicial experience, yet there was no sign of repercussion against the democrats in high populated hispanic areas. However, this could be an altogether different scenario if the Dems play their political cards right. I personally would have loved to see a conservative hispanic woman nominated, i believe it would not have caused as much controversy and tension between hispanics and whites over the issue. I could be wrong.
p.s. outstanding journalism!