[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15042-15043]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        JUDGE SOTOMAYOR HEARINGS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it was less than 3 weeks ago that the 
President announced his intentions to nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor to 
the Supreme Court. In announcing her nomination, the White House made 
much of the fact that the judge had the lengthiest judicial record in 
recent memory. Last week, in a departure from past practice, the 
Democratic leadership of the Judiciary Committee unilaterally scheduled 
her hearing without even notifying the ranking member. Because of this 
unwise and unfair approach, Judge Sotomayor's hearing will begin just 3 
weeks from today. As I understand it, her questionnaire is still 
incomplete. Among other deficiencies, she has not provided materials 
from 17 cases she handled as a prosecutor, nor has she provided 
materials from any appellate cases she handled, and she has not 
provided materials from over 100 speeches she has given.
  During the Roberts and Alito hearings, our Democratic friends 
repeatedly told us it was more important to do it right than to do it 
quick. Now that there is a Democratic President, it appears the 
attitude is to just do it. They want the shortest confirmation process 
in recent memory for a nominee with the longest judicial record in 
recent memory. There is clearly a double standard at play here--one 
that undermines our ability to fulfill one of the Senate's most 
important and solemn responsibilities.

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