Firefighters Drop In on Sotomayor

Senator unable to support a 'judicial activist'

(AP) - John McCain says he'll oppose Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor when the Senate votes on her confirmation this week. Despite Sotomayor's efforts to distance herself from her record, the Arizona Republican said today, Sotomayor is a judicial activist who has used her position as a judge to try to change the law. More»

(NEWSER) - Senate Republicans locked arms against Sonia Sotomayor yesterday … or would have, if they’d bothered to stay for the Judiciary Committee’s vote. Instead, half ducked out, leaving Jeff Sessions to repeat “No by proxy,” over and over, writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. It was an ugly display of partisanship—though, as Orrin Hatch pointed out, Democrats started it by opposing justices Roberts and Alito. More»

(AP) - The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to approve Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. The committee voted 13-6 this morning to send Sotomayor's nomination to the full Senate, where she's expected to be confirmed easily next week. Just one Republican, South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, joined Democrats in the vote. More»

(NEWSER) - In an indication that conservative Republicans are uniting against Sonia Sotomayor, Senate Judiciary Committee members John Cornyn and Orrin Hatch today pledged to vote against her, CNN reports. Though moderate Republicans worry opposition could hurt the party with Hispanics, the conservative base has lobbied hard against the Supreme Court nominee. Hatch’s decision was particularly surprising: The Utahan has voted for every nominee in his 32-year career and had praised Sotomayor’s “experience.” More»

'I feel this is the right vote for me, and quite frankly, for the country,' Graham said

(NEWSER) - Lindsey Graham intends to vote for Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, Talking Points Memo reports. "I believe she is well qualified,” said the senator, one of her more aggressive questioners. "She's definitely more liberal than a Republican would have chosen, but I do believe elections have consequences." President Obama "deserves some deference on my part," Graham said. More»