First Hispanic woman judge fights her way to US Supreme Court

In a no punches pulled sparring session with the US Senators, Sonia Sotomayor, the first-ever Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court came out unscathed. The high drama indicated that an easy confirmation for this Puerto Rican-born Appellate Court judge dubbed the "wise Latina woman" due to her off-the hip rhetorical flourish during a speech at the Berkley University a few years ago when she said that life experiences of a Latino woman would make for a better judge than a white male.

She will make history as first Latino woman to become a Supreme Court in August. The expected meltdown during her Confirmation hearing never came as she fought jab by jab like a prized boxer when uppercuts, body blows and even below the belt shots were thrown at her by some Republican senators. The legal pounding she got became amplified a thousand times as TV viewers saw the live drama for three days.

Her calm, low-key and at times legalistic testimony rebuffed hours of skeptical questions as she stuck resolutely to her message that if confirmed to the Supreme Court, she would not let personal bias influence her rulings. In the first two hours of the hearing alone, she said she would rule by applying "the law" or some variation at least two dozen times. All Supreme Court judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the full senate prior to being appointed to the High Court with a 180 year-old history. "Fidelity to the law" is a refrain I keep repeating," she told the Senate Judiciary Committee, "because that is my philosophy of judging: applying the law to the facts at hand."

White men can't Judge

She retreated from or tried to explain away some past statements, most notably her much-criticized comment that she hoped a "wise Latina woman" might reach better conclusions than white males without the same experiences.

She noted that "no words I have ever spoken or written have received so much attention," dismissing them as "a rhetorical flourish that fell flat" and that did not mean what critics have interpreted them to mean. She may have regretted those words which she said were meant to inspire young people to aim for the stars instead of taking things lying down.

She said that "It was bad because it left an impression that I believed that life experiences command a result in a case." Judge Sotomayor said it publicly addressing the controversy over that line for the first time. "But that's clearly not what I do as a judge."

She added: "Life experience has to influence you. We're not robots who listen to evidence and don't have feelings. We have to recognize those feelings, and put them aside. That's what my speech was saying."

Judge Sotomayor stayed cool throughout the questioning and avoided giving direct answers about her views on several polarizing issues, including presidential signing statements, property rights, gay marriage, gun control and the death penalty. She barely flinched when read anonymous reviews of her temperament, including phrases like "a bit of a bully" and "terror on the bench," saying only that she asks "tough questions" during hearings.

Her measured responses were in line with a White House strategy of keeping the hearings as low key as possible, a four-corner defence recognizing that only an unexpected development could derail her confirmation by a Senate in which Democrats control 60 of 100 seats.

Republicans said that as she sought to claim a seat on the highest court, Judge Sotomayor must answer some of her less guarded statements made as a speaker. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said "I listen to you today; I think I'm listening to Chief Justice Roberts, the leader of the court's conservative wing. But then, he said, "you have these speeches that just blow me away."

Judging a judge isn't easy

Republicans quizzed Judge Sotomayor about a series of statements she has made over the years. In a speech she noted a colleague's belief that judges must transcend personal sympathies and aspire to a greater degree of fairness. In the speech, Judge Sotomayor said that she agreed and tried to work toward that goal, But she added, "I wonder whether achieving the goal is possible in all or even most cases."

She went on to say: "In judging, I further accept that our experience as women will in some way affect our decisions." She later added that "my experience will affect the facts I choose to see as a judge." And while saying she did not know exactly what difference that makes, she said "I accept that there will be some based on my gender and my Latina heritage." She down-played those comments stating that those speeches were "addressing an academic question" and "intended to inspire" audiences of Latinos and women. And she said she had never rendered a ruling based on her personal feelings. "Judges can't rely on what's in their heart," she said. "They don't determine the law. Congress makes the laws."

Democratic senators used their questions to show that most of the 230 rulings she has written and the 3,000 she has participated in during 11 years on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the second Circuit, based in New York City spoke of a judge in command of the law and the facts and not some whimsical notion of heart-felt ethnic urges.

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, sought to rebut criticism by noting how Judge Sotomayor ruled against many plaintiffs with whom she clearly had sympathy, like relatives of victims of the crash of TWA Flight 800, which exploded over the Atlantic Ocean in 1996.

Assailing the first Hispanic judge

Sensitive to the politics of assailing the first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court, none of the Republican senators who questioned the judge approached the assertive style of Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the committee.

Sessions, who before joining the Senate was rejected as a nominee to the federal appeals court, repeatedly pressed Judge Sotomayor on her past statements, saying that allowing background to affect a judge's decision "goes against the American ideal and oath that a judge takes to be fair to every party." Although Judge Sotomayor sought to avoid much discussion of current cases, she said she believed that under the current law, restrictions on abortion must always allow for the health of the mother.

On abortion, Judge Sotomayor said she believed other Supreme Court precedents still required that "the health and welfare of a woman must be a compelling consideration." US allows abortion as a right of choice of a woman.

Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, fired the sharp questions at the judge, and pressed her repeatedly about the way she treated the firefighters' lawsuit recently as a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Sotomayor tried to explain her vote against the firefighters in a cursory, or "per curiam," decision, whose very brevity seems to have infuriated critics of the decision as much as the actual ruling. The judge has said the per curiam handling was not inappropriate, given the detailed decision rendered by a lower district court.

While questioning the judge, Sessions said that he did not support a filibuster-the Senators' right to talk without stopping to prevent a closure of the debate. He said that he did not believe any other Republicans would either try to take that path. But the New Haven city case, in which a group of white and Hispanic firefighters sued the city after the results of a promotional exam were thrown out because black firefighters did not fare well, had emerged one of the most contentious issues in the hearings.

The Supreme Court recently overturned that Second Circuit in the New Haven case, ruling for the plaintiffs. Senator Kyl asserted that, even though the high court ruling was by a five-to-four margin, it was clear from reading the various opinions that all nine justices had disagreed with the Second Circuit's cursory treatment of the case - an interpretation Judge Sotomayor said she did not accept. Judge Sotomayor fared far better with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of seven Republicans on the 19-member panel, who signaled that he intended to vote for her.

We'll see what your future holds, but I think it's going to be pretty bright," Graham said. Moreover, Graham introduced a supportive letter from Kenneth W. Starr, the one-time special prosecutor who investigated the affairs of former President Bill Clinton. "You have earned the respect of Ken Starr," Graham said.

Before wishing Judge Sotomayor "good luck," Senator Graham extracted an apology from her over her observations that "a wise Latina woman" might decide a case differently from someone without those attributes.

"I regret that I have offended some people," the judge said.

New York Mayor Bloomberg also threw in a expression of support to Sotomayor stating you are worthy of support from Democrats, Republicans and independents, the mayor said, "And I should know. I've been all three."