From USA TODAY…Sotomayor confirmed by Senate
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who grew up speaking Spanish in a public housing project, is headed for a seat on the Supreme Court after an overwhelming Senate vote Thursday to make her the first Hispanic member of the court.
Her elevation prompted jubilation among leaders of the nation’s fast-growing Hispanic community.
“This is America!” exulted Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who is one of two Hispanics in the Senate, just before casting his vote.
The vote was 68-31, with only the ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., missing the roll call. Nine Republicans joined 57 Democrats and two independents in confirming President Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee.
Obama praised the Senate’s vote as “breaking another barrier and moving us yet another step closer to a more perfect union.”
The Supreme Court issued a news release saying Sotomayor will be sworn in Saturday by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Two Democrats, Robert Byrd and Barbara Mikulski, were rolled into the Senate chamber in wheelchairs to make the vote. Byrd, 91, has been recuperating from a serious infection. He signaled his “aye” vote by twirling his finger in the air.
Mikulski had a pink ribbon on the ankle she recently broke. The packed gallery started giggling when they heard the voice of Al Franken, who was given the duty of presiding over the chamber for the vote, calling the senators to order.
Senators voted from their seats, rather than milling about casually, procedure the Senate adheres to only for the most formal of occasions.
A 17-year veteran of the federal bench, Sotomayor grew up in the Bronx and won scholarships to Princeton University and Yale Law School. At 55, she will be the court’s second-youngest member, six months older than Roberts.
She will be the 111th justice to serve on the Supreme Court and the third woman. She will replace retired justice David Souter.
The ethnic background she shares with 47 million Hispanics in the USA has garnered the most attention.
“I can’t think of a bigger milestone for Hispanics in this country,” said Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights organization.
In Chicago, law student Anna Lozoya said Thursday Sotomayor is a role model for her and other Latinas. Lozoya, 28, who also is a diabetic like Stotomayor, said she believes they share an ethos that?s particularly acute in immigrants’ children: “You follow the dream and you live it.”
Sotomayor’s rise from public housing to the nation’s highest court symbolizes “the promise of our most amazing nation,” Menendez said.
In Puerto Rico, where both of Sotomayor’s parents lived before moving to New York City, support for Sotomayor’s nomination was sky-high and bipartisan. Republican Gov. Luis Fortuno endorsed her nomination.
“Everybody is waiting this week to celebrate,” Emmaline Garcia, a commonwealth judge who has known Sotomayor for 15 years, told USA TODAY.
Opinions were more divided in Washington.
“As much as I like Judge Sotomayor and I am impressed with the obstacles she has overcome, there are aspects of Judge Sotomayor’s record that make me uncomfortable,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, one of the last members of her party to announce her vote, said in a speech late Wednesday.
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., another late-decider, came down in Sotomayor’s favor. Even though he and the judge “may not see eye to eye on all issues or share the same political ideologies,” Gregg said, “she is obviously well-qualified.”
A number of Hispanic Republican leaders expressed dismay that the nation’s first Hispanic nominee to the high court hadn’t drawn more support from their party.
“It sets a bad tone, and it’s a bad message,” said Augustine Martinez, head of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Opponents of Sotomayor’s nomination went out of their way to praise her as a trailblazer and a role model.
“Every American should be proud that a Hispanic woman has been nominated to the Supreme Court,” said the Senate’s Deputy Republican leader, Jon Kyl of Arizona.
“This is a wonderful woman,” said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.
In arguing against her nomination, they focused on a speech in which Sotomayor suggested that a “wise Latina” could reach fairer decisions than her white male colleagues on the bench and decisions she made regarding gun control, property rights and affirmative action.
The National Rifle Association announced its opposition to Sotomayor because she joined a ruling upholding a New York state ban on martial arts sticks. The NRA raised concerns that it could open the door to curtailing the rights of gun owners.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said that as a “duck hunter and a gun owner,” she trusts Sotomayor’s ability to come to cases “with an open mind.”
Other Republicans, led by Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabaman who is his party’s top-ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, objected to Sotomayor’s decisions favoring municipal governments’ rights to seize public property for redevelopment and opposing New Haven firefighters who sued after the results of a test were thrown out when few minorities qualified.
Sotomayor told the Judiciary Committee she was following established Supreme Court precedent in the New Haven firefighters case — precedent the Supreme Court changed in reversing the decision.
Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, the only Hispanic Republican in the Senate, said his colleagues were looking for “excuses” to oppose Obama’s nominee.
“It’s unwarranted by her record and her judicial views, which I think are fairly moderate,” he said.
Democrats such as Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, argued that Sotomayor’s lengthy service as a judge — she has served longer on the bench than any other Supreme Court nominee in 100 years — proves her impartiality.
Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., mocked the criticism of Sotomayor’s “wise Latina remark.”
“To talk about being a Latino, well, what is wrong with a little ethnic pride?” Specter said. “And isn’t it about time that we had some greater diversity on the Supreme Court?”
A number of Republicans, such as Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, contrasted GOP senators’ treatment of Sotomayor’s nomination with Democrats’ refusal to allow a vote on Miguel Estrada. Estrada, a prominent Hispanic lawyer, was nominated by President George W. Bush to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Estrada withdrew his name from consideration in September 2003 after a 28-month filibuster.
Martinez said he believes Democrats treated Estrada unfairly, but he argued that Sotomayor should not pay the price. “Some of my colleagues conclude that what is good for the goose is good for the gander,” Martinez said. “I could not disagree more heartily.”
Contributing: Judy Keen in Chicago
