[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16861]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          SOTOMAYOR NOMINATION

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Republican Senate leader Senator McConnell 
has just completed his leadership statement. I would like to respond to 
two or three of his points.
  I am not surprised that he opposes Sonya Sotomayor, the President's 
nominee to the Supreme Court. He has stated that earlier, that he does 
not believe she should take this important position. I disagree. Sonya 
Sotomayor comes to us having first been nominated for a Federal 
judgeship under Republican President George H.W. Bush and then was 
nominated for a promotion to the circuit level, the next higher bench, 
by President Clinton. So she has enjoyed bipartisan support in her 
judicial career. In fact, she brings more experience on the bench to 
the Supreme Court if she wins the nomination, if it is approved by the 
Senate, than any nominee in modern memory. So there is no question she 
was qualified both under a Republican President and a Democratic 
President. Now she brings that accumulated experience in this effort to 
be part of the Supreme Court.
  I have met her. She has met personally with over 80 Senators and 
talked to them, answering every question they had about her background, 
her approach to the law. She is an outstanding candidate.
  Her life story is one that is inspiring to all. She was raised in 
public housing in the Bronx, NY. There has been some mention of the 
fact that she was a volunteer attorney for the Puerto Rican Legal 
Defense Fund. It is a fact that she is of Puerto Rican national 
descent. When she was 9 years old, her father passed away. Her mother, 
a very strong-willed and energetic person, raised her and her brother. 
Her brother is a medical doctor. She is an accomplished attorney. She 
went to Princeton University and graduated with one of the highest 
academic honors and then went on to Yale Law School, where she also was 
acknowledged as being one of the most outstanding law students in her 
class.
  This is a person who comes to this job with a resume that, as a 
lawyer myself, I look at with a great deal of envy. She is an 
extraordinarily gifted person. There could be questions raised about 
any judge's ruling on any case. But the fact is, I believe she has a 
record that is unparalleled in terms of judicial experience. So I hope 
those who listened to Senator McConnell's remarks will also reflect on 
the fact that Judge Sotomayor is an extraordinarily talented and gifted 
person. If Senator McConnell is going to oppose her nomination--it 
sounds as if he will--I hope some on his side of the aisle will join us 
in a bipartisan effort to make her part of the U.S. Supreme Court.

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