US Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor Faces Tough Questioning
By VOA News
14 July 2009
U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is facing tough questioning from Republican senators Tuesday, the second day of her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sotomayor, who is widely expected to be confirmed as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, has sought to ease Republican concerns about her judicial philosophy, saying the job of a judge is to follow the law - not make it.
She says she does not think "any racial or ethnic group has an advantage in sound judgment," when asked about her comment years ago that a "wise Latina" might make better decisions than a white man without the same life experiences. She said Tuesday that she was trying to inspire the group she was talking to at the time.
She said in her 17 years as a federal judge, at no point has she allowed her personal views, sympathies or prejudices to influence a case. She said she has followed the law in every case.
Sotomayor said life experiences help a person to understand and listen, but that the law must always dictate the result.
She was also questioned about her ruling, as part of a three-judge panel, against 20 firefighters who said they were the victims of discrimination. The Supreme Court recently overturned that ruling. She said the case was not about quotas or affirmative action, but against an exam the firefighters took for a promotion.
Sotomayor, the child of Puerto Rican parents, went from a humble upbringing in public housing to graduate at the top of prestigious American universities. With the approval from the full Senate, the 55-year-old New York native would become the third woman to sit on the nine-member panel of the highest U.S. court.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
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