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Gender and heritage, frequent topics for Supreme Court nominee
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-05 14:10 WASHINGTON -- Sonia Sotomayor told the Senate on Thursday that the White House never questioned her about cases or issues she might have to decide as a Supreme Court justice, a disclosure gleaned from reams of documents that reveal she has spoken repeatedly about how her gender and Latina heritage affect her judging. The federal appeals court judge divulged new details about her finances and provided three decades of writings, speeches and rulings that give both supporters and critics fresh fodder for the coming debate on her confirmation. They include more instances in which she said she hopes a "wise Latina" would reach a better decision than a man without that experience.
The comments in 2002 and 2003 echo a much-criticized remark she made in 2001 at the University of California-Berkeley law school that has prompted a furor among conservatives who say they suggest President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee brings a personal bias to her legal decisions.
Sotomayor has told senators in private meetings this week that while her background shapes who she is, she believes judges should follow the law above all. The documents also reveal that the White House first contacted Sotomayor about the nomination four days before Justice David Souter announced he would retire. Sotomayor first got a call from White House counsel Greg Craig on April 27, then had near-daily contact with his office after Souter's announcement May 1. She spoke to about a dozen White House aides during the secretive selection process, leading to a face-to-face interview with Obama on May 21. The president took the Memorial Day weekend to mull his selection, then announced it May 26. Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the court. The documents provide a fuller portrait of Sotomayor, 54, who was reared in the Bronx and educated in the Ivy League. She likes dining on pig intestines and reading legal thrillers. She lists luxury brands Fendi, Ferrari and Bulgari as past clients, but also once recused herself from a case involving the discount retailer B.J.'s Wholesalers because she was a member. The files were delivered in five cartons to Capitol Hill in response to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire. They arrived as Sotomayor wrapped up a series of one-on-one meetings with more than two dozen senators. "I get to sleep in my own bed tonight," she quipped to reporters before disappearing into an elevator en route to an evening shuttle back to New York. The White House and Senate Democrats said her quick response to the committee's questionnaire should pave the way for prompt hearings. "This historically fast completion of the exhaustive questions is no small feat that will hopefully lead to her swift consideration by the Senate," Craig blogged on the White House Web site. Republicans are resisting Democrats' calls for a speedy set of hearings and summertime vote. They say it will take until September to slog through Sotomayor's nearly 17 years worth of rulings and to scrutinize her approach as a judge. |
