President Barack Obama has nominated federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court:
Here's what our senior Senator Mary Landrieu had to say:
"Judge Sonia Sotomayor is a historic choice for the bench. Her credentials are stellar, and I look forward to getting to know her better through the confirmation process."
Senator Landrieu voted to confirm Ms. Sotomayor for the federal Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit back in 1998, and I suspect that she will be supporting Ms. Sotomayor for the Supreme Court this time around. While some Louisiana Democrats may be disappointed with Senator Landrieu's cautious statement today, she's just teasing the GOPers here in Louisiana. But it would be nice if she wasn't so damn cautious.
Now let's see what our Sinning Senator Vitter had to say:
"As the first Hispanic nominee for the Supreme Court and only the third woman, Judge Sotomayor is certainly making hopeful and positive history. Now we must study her record and philosophy carefully to ensure that she understands the proper role of the judge as impartial umpire - not pitcher or catcher."
Hmmm ... it seems that our Sinning Senator will be voting NAY on Sotomayor, since he didn't bother to mention that her qualifications were sterling - Valedictorian at Princeton, Yale Law, Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, Federal District Court Judge, and then Federal Court of Appeals Court Judge - as he did when Chief Justice John Roberts was nominated:
"I think clearly John Roberts - President Bush's nominee - is highly qualified and if you look at his resume it's really sterling. He has a good educational background, is a really sharp person and has argued before the Supreme Court more than 30 times.
Perhaps even more importantly, I think he has a very good temperament for the Court. He gets high marks and praise from really everyone who's worked with him, Democrats and Republicans alike, which is very important.
Now, having said that, I still have homework to do. I'm going to look at all of his major decisions very carefully and I'm going to do a lot of reading before I'm prepared to cast my final vote. But certainly, this nominee seems highly qualified."
I expect nothing but opposition from Vitter with regard to Sonia Sotomayor, or any SCOTUS nominee made by President Obama, simply because it was made by a Democratic President.
