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NEWS ABOUT: confirmation hearings

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Kagan Refuses to Discuss Her Legal Views

Sessions grills Supreme Court nominee over military controversy

(Newser) - Elena Kagan began today’s round of confirmation questioning by declaring that it would be inappropriate for her to discuss how she might rule on future Supreme Court cases. That's ironic, the New York Times notes, because Kagan once wrote that confirmation hearings had taken on “an air of... More »

What Senators Should Ask Elena Kagan

Confirmation hearings must focus on big picture

(Newser) - The process Elena Kagan once derided as a "vapid and hollow charade" gets under way tomorrow when the solicitor general appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee as President Obama's second Supreme Court nominee. "Instead of playing cat-and-mouse with the nominee about how she would rule in future cases,... More »

Clinton-Era Emails Show a Political, Blunt Kagan

Clinton's library releases 78K pages of correspondence

(Newser) - Elena Kagan shows herself to be hands-on, political, and more than a little, shall we say, blunt, in thousands of pages of emails released by Bill Clinton's presidential library. The release is the third and final handed over for Senate scrutiny ahead of her confirmation hearings, and reveals "There... More »

Patrick Kennedy Slams Scott Brown

Ted Kennedy's son calls successor's candidacy a 'joke'

(Newser) - Scott Brown sped up his swearing-in because despite having touted his independence during his Senate campaign, "he's in the tank for the Republicans," says Patrick Kennedy, predecessor Ted Kennedy's son. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island congressman, says Brown suddenly demanded to be seated a week earlier than previously... More »

GOP Uses Van Jones to Rebel Against Czars

Republicans say czars are an end-run around congressional vetting

(Newser) - Republicans have groused for months that Barack Obama has too many “czars,” high-ranking, specialized advisers that, they complain, skirt congressional approval. Now they have a poster boy for their objections, Politico reports: Van Jones. This week an old lecture video surfaced in which he called Republicans “assholes,... More »

GOP Looks Tacky in Vote on Sotomayor

(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... More »

Judiciary Committee Approves Sotomayor

(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,... More »

Hatch, Cornyn Get on GOP's Anti-Sotomayor Bandwagon

(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.... More »

Graham: I'll Vote for Sotomayor

'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... More »

Blame Everyone Involved for Shallow Sotomayor Hearings

Dems go lightly; GOP eyes history outside of court

(Newser) - With Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation a virtual certainty and her appointment unlikely to change the direction of the Supreme Court, last week's toothless hearings held few surprises. Except, that is, for observers who were hoping the Senate Judiciary Committee would press for substantive Q-and-A, Joan Biskupic writes for USA Today. “... More »

Sotomayor Wins Republicans' Backing

She's shown 'judicial temperament': statement

(Newser) - Richard Lugar said today he’ll back Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court bid, making him the first GOP senator to do so, the Washington Post reports. Mel Martinez of Florida, the chamber's sole Republican Latino, quickly followed suit. “Judge Sotomayor has demonstrated a judicial temperament during her week-long nomination... More »

GOP Foresees August Vote on Sotomayor

(AP) - Republicans cleared the way today for a Senate vote next month to confirm Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, placing her firmly in line to become the first Hispanic justice. "I look forward to you getting that vote before we recess in August," said Jeff Sessions, the senior Republican... More »

Firefighters Drop In on Sotomayor

(Newser) - The New Haven Fire Department arrived in uniform on Capitol Hill today to watch the third day of Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings, the New York Times reports. So far talk has swirled around abortion, with Sotomayor refuting reports that the Obama administration had given her a “litmus test”... More »

Sotomayor Differs With Obama: Heart's Not That Vital

(Newser) - Day 2 of Sonia Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings have wrapped up, with the all-but-certain nominee disagreeing at one point with President Obama's assertion in 2007 that a judge's "heart" is important in rulings, reports Politico. “I wouldn’t approach the issue of judging in the way the president... More »

Sotomayor: Roe v. Wade Is 'Settled Law'

(Newser) - Questioning is under way on Day 2 of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, and there has already been much talk of New Haven firefighters and wise Latina women. Asked about that infamous quote early on, Sotomayor replied, “I want to state upfront, unequivocally… I do not believe that any racial... More »

Beck Complains About Softball Questions for Sotomayor ...

... except nobody asked nominee any yesterday

(Newser) - Someone might need to explain this whole confirmation-hearings process to Glenn Beck. Last night, the Fox host railed against the softball questions senators were tossing Sonia Sotomayor. “As our country burns to the ground, this is the questioning—and get ready, it’s a hard line of questioning” the... More »

Hey GOP: 'White Male' Is an Identity, Too

(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation is in the bag, but this week's hearings have a real value, writes Eugene Robinson: They are exposing the Republican Party's "refusal to accept the basic principle of diversity." For the Washington Post columnist, the anger surrounding the judge's "wise Latina" remark rests... More »

'Jane Roe' Arrested After Ruckus at Sotomayor Hearing

'You're wrong, Sotomayor,' plaintiff-turned-anti-abortion-activist screams

(Newser) - Norma McCorvey, better known as “Jane Roe” from the landmark abortion-rights case Roe v. Wade, was arrested today after causing a ruckus at Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing, ABC News reports. McCorvey was removed from the Hart Senate Office Building and charged with unlawful conduct after she began to... More »

GOP Attacks on 'Empathy' During Hearings' First Day

Republicans stake out a position against judicial 'empathy'

(Newser) - With Republicans unlikely to be able to block Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation, it seems they’ve settled for drawing a stark contrast between President Obama’s philosophy of law and their own, writes Andrew Cohen for CBS News. During statements today, GOP senators repeatedly attacked Obama’s comments that “... More »

Senators Duke It Out at Sotomayor Hearing

(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor has wrapped up the first session of what promises to be a successful but contentious confirmation process. Patrick Leahy opened today's hearing by expressing hope Sotomayor would be spared racial attacks. “She has been a judge for all Americans,” the Senate Judiciary Committee chair said. “... More »

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