[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 14316]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TIMETABLE FOR SOTOMAYOR HEARING

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, earlier today, Chairman Leahy announced 
July 13 as the start date for the Judiciary Committee hearings on 
Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor. I am extremely 
disappointed with this unilateral decision on the part of my Democratic 
colleagues. In the past, the decision of when to start these Supreme 
Court hearings has been a bipartisan one. With the Roberts and Alito 
nominations, Republicans worked with our colleagues to accommodate 
Democrat concerns about the timing of the hearings for the highest 
court in the land. Senators Leahy and Specter held joint press 
conferences announcing the Roberts and Alito hearings.
  I would have hoped that Ranking Member Sessions and Judiciary 
Committee Republicans would have gotten the same courtesy for President 
Obama's nominee. Yet I understand that Ranking Member Sessions had no 
idea that Chairman Leahy was going to the floor to make this July 13 
announcement, and that he was not consulted about this decision. 
Clearly the July 13 date is not a bipartisan decision.
  Moreover, July 13 is just not enough time to prepare for a thorough 
and careful review of Judge Sotomayor's record and qualifications to be 
a Supreme Court Justice. First, July 13 is a mere 48 days from the 
nomination announcement to the hearing, which is shorter than the 
timeframe for Justices Roberts and Alito. Moreover, Justice Roberts had 
just a few hundred decisions for the Judiciary Committee to analyze. 
Judge Sotomayor has over 3,000 cases over a 17-year period on the 
Federal bench for us to study. The Alito confirmation hearing timeframe 
is probably a better comparison since Justice Alito had a similar large 
number of decisions.
  With respect to concerns that criticisms have been lodged against the 
nominee, we don't control what outside groups say, but I do I know that 
Senate Republican members have treated Judge Sotomayor fairly and have 
not engaged in personal attacks. So the idea that Judge Sotomayor needs 
a hearing scheduled as soon as possible to respond to criticisms by 
outside groups just doesn't hold water.
  In addition, the Judiciary Committee has yet to receive everything we 
need from Judge Sotomayor. I understand that her questionnaire is not 
complete, that we have yet to receive all her documentation, memos, 
speeches and unpublished opinions, that we still don't have her ABA 
review and FBI background report. It seems like the rushed nature of 
the process has contributed to the deficiencies in the questionnaire 
and the number of documents that are still missing. We need all this 
stuff in order to fully vet the nominee.
  Judge Sotomayor has an extensive record, and the July 13 timetable 
that Chairman Leahy wants to impose will force us to consider a Supreme 
Court nominee with one of the lengthiest records in recent history in 
the shortest time in recent history. Republican members got no serious 
consideration to address concerns about timing, and no consultation or 
bipartisanship on setting the start date as has been done in the past.
  I and my Republican colleagues are committed to give Judge Sotomayor 
a fair hearing, but we need to thoroughly review her extensive legal 
record and that takes time. It is important that we do the job right 
because this is a lifetime appointment and we are talking about the 
highest court of the land. As my Democrat colleagues have said before, 
the Senate cannot be a rubberstamp. We have a constitutional 
responsibility to carefully vet Judge Sotomayor and not rush the 
process. We owe this to the American people.

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