Alexander Bucks Party On Sotomayor
July 30th, 2009, 3:16 pm · 7 Comments · posted by Joaquin
One of the leading Republicans in the U.S. Senate, Lamar Alexander, has announced his support for the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. Alexander, of Tennessee, is the Senate Republican Conference chairman, the No. 3 leadership position for his party in the Senate.
In backing Sotomayor, Alexander is bucking his minority leader, Mitch McConnell, along with the minority whip, Jon Kyl, and the GOP campaign chief, John Cornyn, all of whom plan to vote `no’ next week on the Sotomayor nomination. Alexander is now the sixth GOP senator to decide to vote `yes’ on the Sotomayor selection for the Supreme Court, and his announcement may encourage a few more Republican senators to do the same.
Alexander cited Sotomayor’s experience, temperament, character and intellect as reasons to support her nomination for the high court. The Tennessee senator said he hopes his vote for Sotomayor will lead to more senators voting for such selections based on merit, qualifications and temperament, and not just partisan politics and the ideologically driven positions both parties have often taken in recent years when it comes to high court selections.
“Elections have consequences,” Alexander said Thursday on the floor of the Senate. “It would be wrong for me to vote against Judge Sotomayor solely because she is not on my side on some of the issues.”
Alexander said it would have been wrong for him to oppose Sotomayor after criticizing then-Sen. Barack Obama and other Democratic senators for opposing John Robert’s nomination for chief justice in 2005 because they disagreed with the nominee’s political philosophy. Alexander’s vote for Sotomayor is consistent with what he said four years ago in saying a president should have a wide latitude in nominating justices for the Supreme Court.
It is the same line of thinking that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., used in announcing that he would also vote `yes’ on the Sotomayor pick. Alexander and Graham were correct in 2005 in being critical of Obama and the Democrats for opposing Roberts for purely political and partisan reasons. Roberts should have received the support of every Democratic senator four years ago, and a good many Democrats did vote for the Republican nominee.
It’s a shame that Cornyn of Texas couldn’t demonstrate the same sort of maturity and wisdom as Alexander and Graham, and instead decided to oppose Sotomayor for ideological along with cultural reasons, (Cornyn among the GOP senators who freaked over the judge’s `wise Latina’ comment in speeches to law school students).
Sotomayor will end up with just north of 65 votes for confirmation when the Senate votes next week. That would be short of Robert’s 70-plus votes for confirmation. Still, Alexander and Graham and the other GOP senators are to be commended for putting principle over politics in announcing their support for Sotomayor.
7 Comments
Leave a Reply
Copyright © 2008.
The contents of this website may not be reproduced without written
permission from The Brownsville Herald. All rights reserved.
Contact Us | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Business Listings | Cars & Autos | Real Estate | Jobs | Classifieds | Site Map
“and a good many Democrats did vote for the Republican nominee”
So Obama is not “a good” Democrat? He voted against Roberts AND Alito, both Bush appointments to the Court. He didn’t recognize elections have consequences.
“It’s a shame that Cornyn of Texas couldn’t demonstrate the same sort of maturity and wisdom as Alexander and Graham”
He demonstrated the same sort of maturity and wisdom as our president. It’s a tit-for-tat and not like it means anything either way unless Hispanics like you make it an issue when it shouldn’t be.
“and instead decided to oppose Sotomayor for ideological along with cultural reasons”
Cultural reasons? Oh gimmie a break. Cry me a river. It’s not like they Borked her. She’s going to be confirmed. I’m not happy about it, but it won’t make a difference on the Court.
If I may add, your tiny violin playing makes Hispanics like me look bad. Think outside her skin tone. Instead think about her nail scraping malapropisms. Ironic since she’s a grammar freak.
Obama should have voted for both Roberts and Alieto. I’ve said that before, and am saying it again. What Alexander and Graham said in their votes for Sotomayor is that they were not getting into a tit-for-tat on votes for Supreme Court nominees.
It’s a big country, bub, you’re entitled to your opinion and your own violins. Hatch and Grassley have voted for every single SC nominee, (from GOP and Dem presidents), but are going to vote against this nominee. Why? Is she really to the left of Ginsburg and Breyer on guns or any issue, really?
No. The wise Latina thing blew their minds. We’re all impressed with the use of the word `malapropisms.’ Let me look it up and see what it means.
“What Alexander and Graham said in their votes for Sotomayor is that they were not getting into a tit-for-tat on votes for Supreme Court nominees.”
And that’s okay for them. I don’t fault them for wanting to be bipartisan. Just like you should fault Max Baucus (D-Montana) if he votes against Sotomayor. No. You’ll make it racial or ethnic.
“No. The wise Latina thing blew their minds.”
It blows my mind too. It isn’t like she’s saying she’s a strong woman. I think she’s saying she’s better than another group because of her ethnicity.
For the record, I don’t believe I am better than you because of my Hispanic ethnicity. No. I think I am better than you because I am not a newspaper publisher writing as one person in first-person plural pronoun in one sentence and first person singular objective in the subsequent sentence. Sotomayor is an insult to jurists like Reynaldo Garza who had it not been for Thurgood Marshall would have sat on the Supreme Court a long time ago.
“Is she really to the left of Ginsburg and Breyer on guns or any issue, really?”
Yes. Ginsburg and Breyer don’t believe the judicial branch legislates from the bench. Sotomayor does but at least she’s being honest.
“We’re all impressed with the use of the word `malapropisms.”
What’s this “we” thing, Daniel. Is it your split personality with Joaquin? I guess Rodolfo Gonzales was a huge influence in your life to create a split personality. You should pay him royalities.
“You should pay him royalities.”
My apologies. I misspelled royalties.
On another subject, if a Libertarian candidate runs for office, would your paper support and/or endorse him/her?
“Just like you should fault Max Baucus (D-Montana)”
Correction: Just like you should NOT fault Max Baucus (D-Montana)
Have a good weekend.
I don’t know who Rodolfo Gonzalez is, so I can’t cite him as an influence. I am a fan of William Faulkner, however.
Joaquin is just a screen name, relax there, that was set up by systems administrator when this blog was established. There’s no secret agenda there.
I don’t know how Max Baucus will vote. I know Jon Tester, a Democratic senator from Montana as well, has already announced he will vote for Sotomayor, saying she’s right on the gun ownership issue.
I don’t think every GOP senator who votes against Sotomayor will do it based on cultural reasons, although I think some will, as was clear from the questions she received in her confirmation hearings.
For example, Kay Bailey isn’t voting against Sotomayor for cultural reasons. I think it’s a political calculation. She has to if she hopes to beat Perry in the GOP gubernatorial primary.
It was my honor to meet Judges Garza and Vela, and get to know them some, and my opinion is that they would both support Sotomayor’s nomination wholeheartedly, but obviously that’s a guess.
Thanks for reading and the comments.
I am having a good weekend, thank-you.
Max Baucus has announced he’s voting for Sotomayor. That means two of the more conservative Dem senators - and two of the more pro-gun ownership rights Dems will vote for her SC confirmation.
That rather weakens the position of Kay Bailey and other GOP senators who say they’re voting against her on the gun rights issue. In Kay Bailey’s case, it’s just a cover reason to put up to shield the real reasons she will vote against Sotomayor.