The first day of the Senate Judiciary Committee‘s confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee, federal appellate Judge Sonia Sotomayor, is starting now.
The day will kick off with opening statements from members (10 minutes each – prepare for the chest-thump fest) and from Judge Sotomayor.
Dems have included a bunch of heavy hitters on their witness list – including Louis Freeh, former head of the FBI, and Chuck Canterbury, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police. The minority witness list is considerably shorter, but includes a couple of folks likely to bring some fire to the proceedings – including Frank Ricci, the Connecticut firefighter whose discrimination case was recently decided by the Supremes (Sotomayor was among the judges who previously ruled against Ricci’s suit).
Currently, Sen. Patrick Leahy, committee chair, is calling on senators to avoid “partisan political attacks” (yeah, right). This will be the “most transparent” confirmation hearing ever held, Leahy said – all of the materials related to her confirmation are posted online, and the hearings are being broadcast by several stations and is being webcast on the judiciary website.
This article appears in July 10 • 2009.