Nomination to the Supreme Court
Sotomayor had been regarded as a potential Supreme Court nominee by several Presidents, both Republican and Democratic.[7][27] In July 2005, a number of Senate Democrats suggested Sotomayor, among others, to President George W. Bush as a nominee acceptable to them to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The suggestion was criticized by John Lott and Sonia D. Jones on the conservative blog National Review Online as being in bad faith, because, they argued, it reflected insufficient effort on the part of the Democrats to suggest conservative nominees acceptable to Bush. Lott and Jones noted that Sotomayor was rated only "moderate" or "neutral," rather than "conservative," in a survey by the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary of courtroom lawyers regarding the political views of the judges they encounter in their litigation.[28] John G. Roberts was nominated for the seat initially, but instead was nominated and later confirmed as Chief Justice following the death of William H. Rehnquist. The seat was eventually filled by Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the Third Circuit.
Since Barack Obama's election, there had been speculation that Sotomayor could be a leading candidate for the Supreme Court seat of Justice David Souter, or for any opening on the Court during President Obama's term.[7][8][9][27][29][30][31][32][33] On April 9, 2009, New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand wrote a joint letter to President Obama urging him to appoint Sotomayor, or alternatively Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, to the Supreme Court if a vacancy should arise on the Court during his term.[34] On April 30, 2009 David Souter's retirement plans were leaked to the media, and Sonia Sotomayor received early attention as a possible nominee for the seat to be vacated in June 2009.[33] On May 13, 2009, the Associated Press reported that President Obama was considering Sotomayor, among others, for possible appointment to the United States Supreme Court.[35] If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the Supreme Court's first ever female [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic] (Benjamin N. Cardozo being the first ever Hispanic on the bench). .[34][36][37][38] On May 26, 2009, ABC, CBS, NBC and all other major news outlets reported that President Obama has nominated Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the next United States Supreme Court Justice. [39] President Obama will be live on TV to make the official announcement at 10:15am EST.
No comments:
Post a Comment