The Senate Judiciary Committee passed President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on to the full Senate today by a vote of 13-6. All of the committees 12 Democrats voted yea with only one Republican, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joining them.
The committee passed now Chief Justice John Roberts by a vote of 13-5 in 2005. Samuel Alito did not receive a single Democratic vote in 2006 when the committee passed him 10-8.
Sotomayor’s nomination hearings received wall-to-wall press coverage, including near constant broadcasting by Fox News, CNN and MSNBC.
Republicans and Democrats alike were nearly universally underwhelmed by the performance of both Sotomayor and the judiciary committee.
Many conservatives believe Republican senators gave Sotomayor a free pass, failing to press her hard enough on her “wise Latina” comments on race and her previous assertion of a policy-making capacity for judges.
By contrast, many liberals saw Sotomayor’s clear attempt to paint herself as a more conservative jurist as a sell-out. They wish Sotomayor–and the committee’s Democrats–had used the nomination hearings as an opportunity to push a liberal philosophy of judicial interpretation.
A full list of Judiciary Committee members can be viewed here.
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