Jeff Sessions has been warned: "We are watching."
From the Washington Post:
Leaders of civil rights groups gathered today to issue a warning to participants in Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings this week. “We are watching,” NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said.
He spoke at a news conference at the opening of the NAACP’s centennial convention, where he was joined by the leaders of the Puerto Rican and NAACP Legal Defense Funds to raise concerns about the potential for racially tinged rhetoric to creep into the confirmation hearings of the first Hispanic nominated to the court.
They pointed to the recent focus by conservatives on Sotomayor’s past involvement with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, now called LatinoJustice PRLDEF, as an example.
...NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said Sessions' “description of our sister organization as ‘extreme’ is reminiscent of his previous comment about us as ‘communist’ and ‘un-American.’” Sessions has since said those comments about the NAACP and ACLU were distorted.
Cesar Perales, president of LatinoJustice PRLDEF and a founder of the fund, said in defense of his organization: “We have sought justice and equality.”
Sotomayor held leadership roles on the legal defense fund's board throughout the 1980s. She left it when she became a federal judge.
Jealous said NAACP members are monitoring hearings this week and have instructions to contact their senators if they are displeased with the nature of the questions Sotomayor faces.
NAACP members aren't the only Americans who will be watching how Sotomayor's confirmation hearing plays out.
The NAACP's warning to Sessions is meant to intimidate, a tactic the group frequently employs.
All Americans should contact their senators if "they are displeased with the nature of the questions Sotomayor faces."
Here's more on Sessions and the confirmation hearings:
The leading Judiciary Committee Republican is charging that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is "out of the mainstream" of legal thinking and has a very activist judicial profile.
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama made the assertion just hours before Sotomayor, who would be the third woman to join the court, was to face her initial confirmation hearing.
Sessions also said on CBS's "The Early Show" that he thought the native New York appeals court judge deserves a fair hearing. He quickly added that Republicans on the Judiciary panel won't hesitate to question her closely on her judicial philosophy.
Hearings in the Judiciary Committee begin Monday with opening remarks from the panel's 12 Democrats and 7 Republicans, followed by Sotomayor's own statement that is expected to emphasize her compelling rise from poverty in New York City.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the committee chairman, planned to kick off the proceedings with laudatory remarks that also sought to firmly establish Sotomayor as a judge who follows wherever the law leads her.
"In truth, we do not have to speculate about what kind of a justice she will be because we have seen the kind of judge she has been. She is a judge in which all Americans can have confidence. She has been a judge for all Americans and will be a justice for all Americans," Leahy said in excerpts of his statement that were provided to The Associated Press.
...In the nearly seven weeks since President Obama nominated Sotomayor to replace retiring Justice David Souter, critics have labored without much success to exploit weaknesses in her record. Republican senators also must take care to avoid offending Hispanic voters, the fastest-growing segment of the electorate, by attacking Sotomayor too harshly.
Democrat senators didn't hesitate to harshly attack Clarence Thomas.
Double standard.
Why should Sotomayor's ethnicity prevent Republican senators from asking important questions?
Does Sotomayor really need to be treated with kid gloves because of her Hispanic background? Does that make her eligible for special treatmenet?
...Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, highlighted the potential political pitfalls for Republicans when he noted on "FOX News Sunday" that a third of his constituents are Hispanic and that they want Sotomayor judged fairly.
Still, Republicans signaled that they will press the 55-year-old New Yorker and veteran federal judge to explain past rulings involving discrimination complaints and gun rights, as well as remarks that they say raise doubts about Sotomayor's ability to judge cases fairly.
The sharpest comments about her so far have come from Sessions, who criticized Sunday what he called her reliance on personal identity and experience.
"She has criticized the idea that a woman and a man would reach the same result. She expects them to reach different results. I think that's philosophically incompatible with the American system," Sessions said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Leahy responded that Sotomayor's 17-year record on the federal bench shows her to be a "mainstream judge."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who will introduce Sotomayor to the panel, predicted that Sotomayor will win significant Republican support and get more than the 78 votes, including 22 Democrats, that John Roberts received in his confirmation as chief justice in 2005. The Senate has 58 Democrats, 40 Republicans and two independents who generally side with the Democrats.
Will Sotomayor win significant Republican support mainly because of her gender and ethnicity?
If so, Republicans will be doing Americans a disservice.
It wouldn't be the first time.
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