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Justice Sonia Sotomayor is the newest member of the Supreme Court. She was just confirmed by a vote of 68-31 in the Senate. Here are the nay votes:
- Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)
- Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-UT)
- Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY)
- Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
- Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)
- Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID)
- Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)
- Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)
- Sen. Michael B. Enzi (R-WY)
- Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT)
- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
- Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-OK)
- Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
- Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Sen. James E. Risch (R-ID)
- Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
- Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-AL)
- Sen. John Thune (R-SD)
- Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
- Sen. Roger F. Wicker (R-MS)
All Republicans. All Democrats voted to confirm Sotomayor, along with eight Republicans: Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-MO), Sen. Susan M. Collins (R-ME), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-IN), Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME), Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-OH).
Three Senators – Bennett, Cochran, and Hatch – had voted to confirm Sotomayor to the 2nd Circuit and voted no today. Sotomayor got more votes than two sitting Supreme Court Justices, Alito (58-42) and Thomas (52-48).
Clearly, the majority of the Republican party was against Sotomayor, the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. With the Hispanic vote becoming more and more important, I’m not sure this will play out well for Republicans in upcoming elections. As Chris noted when she was confirmed by the Judiciary Committee:
If I were a Republican voting no on the Sotomayor nomination, I’d be hoping she doesn’t turn out to be an excellent justice. I have a feeling their "no" vote may turn out to be pretty embarrassing. It’s clear this is a political vote for Republicans, much as they invoke the hoary (but meaningless) mantras of "strict construction" and "judicial activism". The funny thing is, I don’t think their no votes even make much sense from a political perspective. Republicans are merely reinforcing their brand as a party that tries to turn race, ethnicity, and gender into political wedge issues.
They’ve made their choice. Clearly, expanding the GOP coalition to include Hispanics isn’t what the Republican party wants at this point.
5 Comments
yeah, this seemed like an odd fight for Republicans to pick. I guess they charged up their base, but I would think it could easily be a net loss for them in terms of how many people they alienated, especially in the context of other positions the party (both rank and file members and elected officials)is taking.
It looked to me as if their shilling wasn’t about Sotomayor; they were setting something up for future judicial appointments.
I guess someone thought their strategy was smart.
It struck me as something better attempted in 1966, in the era of Gidget and Scooby Doo than in 2009 where every iTunes user has access to World Music, and you can fly from Seattle to London in 9 hours. Oh, and the last Oscar winning movie was made in India.
But the GOP remains fervent in their efforts to turn back time.
Life must be really quite unpleasant for some of those people, even out on the country club greens; next thing they know, the caddies will be making more money and driving nicer cars.
Scary.
Sotomayor is no Holmes, Brandeis, or Frankfurter.
She is right up the middle.
She will say some smart and some stupid things.
Don’t hope for much.
I’m thinking about this more electorally than judically…
I’m not much of a Frankfurter fan myself–he was very deferential to the legislative branch and not much of a defender of civil liberties. Holmes had shining moments, but also his own lows–such as Buck v. Bell, a case upholding forced sterilization. Holmes infamously wrote that “three generations of imbeciles are enough”.
But that’s neither here nor there. as Jason said, this is more about the Republicans’ political miscalculation than whether Sotomayor will be a giant on the Court (I am not predicting she will be or won’t be, but I do think she’ll acquit herself well)