WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Vt. Senators React to Sotomayor Pick
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Burlington, Vermont - May 26, 2009
Before announcing his pick to the country, President Obama told Senator Patrick Leahy he had tapped Judge Sonia Sotomayor to sit on the Supreme Court.
"I told the president I was delighted he had picked a woman," said Leahy, D-Vermont. "Of course, Judge Sotomayor began as a prosecutor, and as a former prosecutor, that certainly appeals to me."
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Leahy will play a key role in the judge's confirmation hearings. Leahy said he was impressed by her life story-- rising from a poor, immigrant family to becoming one of the country's top litigators.
"I think she's amazing," Leahy said. "She will have more judicial experience when she goes on the bench than any of the justices in the last 100 years. I'm delighted she's had real-life experience as a trial lawyer."
If she is confirmed, Sotomayor would be one of two women on the Supreme Court and the first Hispanic. Leahy praised the president for bringing "long overdue" diversity to the bench.
"I think he's taking steps to bring diversity not just for the sake of diversity but for all Americans to be able to look at the court and think, I could be there someday."
Not everyone is so excited. Some conservative and pro-life groups have started working to block her confirmation.
"I am sick and tired of special interest groups lobbying against people on the Supreme Court," Leahy said. "We have 100 senators. We have to represent 300 million Americans. Think of the Americans we're representing, not some special interest group."
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued a statement saying, "I am especially interested in her views on privacy rights and how, in these times of international tension, we can preserve our civil liberties and constitutional rights."
Republican senators are reacting cautiously to Sotomayor's nomination. They're promising to be fair and thorough in examining her record to ensure she will be an impartial jurist and not an activist. She has at least two Republicans on her side. Both of Maine's senators-- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe-- are praising her nomination.
The full Senate will vote on her confirmation, although it's not clear when those hearings will occur. Leahy said he'd like to see Sotomayor seated before the court's next term begins in October.
"I'm confident she'll be confirmed because she deserves to be confirmed," he said.
Kate Duffy - WCAX News
